The HÖH in Bulgaria also told off

YALÇIN DOĞAN

It is far from us, but at the same time it is quite close to us. It is close because it is the political party of the Turks in Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HÖH). It is far because it only comes into our radar from time to time.

This scene is fresh in our memories: A short while ago, at a HÖH congress, there was an assassination attempt against its long time leader, Ahmet Doğan (not related to me). However, the gun misfired.

In that party congress, there was a part of Ahmet Doğan’s speech that had quite a unique analysis. It started like this: “Your mind gets so confused that you cannot even explain to yourself what is going on.”

Then Ahmet Doğan pointed to the Bulgarian government: “When you perceive what the political body of the country allows you to do, you become more puzzled. Rather that looking for rational explanations, you slowly start to understand what is happening.”

What is happening? He got there step by step: “They may take your job from you, but you should feel grateful. They may orchestrate your bankruptcy, but you only have to keep quiet and start fearing, because much worse may come after this.”

Obviously, there are some things happening and Doğan is aware of this.

Our savior

He furnished his political speech with literary descriptions: “They may create such a conspiracy against you in the press that you don’t even recognize yourself when you look in the mirror.”

After that, he targeted the Bulgarian administration directly, making his most interesting statement: “Our hero, our savior does not feel safe for himself. He wants to have a second assurance. For this, he decides to address his Turkish counterpart in Ankara in a friendly way, requesting assistance from him in whatever way he can. Indeed, his counterpart in Ankara responds positively.”

Let’s solve the puzzle

These words are like a puzzle. Let’s solve it piece by piece. The savior, the hero is probably the Bulgarian prime minister. The second “assured” thing is that the Bulgarian prime minister is not happy with the HÖH; he wants another Turkish party to be formed to replace it.

The counterpart in Ankara who will assist him is probably Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

The counterpart in Ankara responds positively. In line with the Bulgarian prime minister’s wishes, Ankara accepts that a new Turkish party should be formed to replace the HÖH.

Therefore, the relationship between Ankara and the HÖH is tense; the reason for it is not in this speech. “It could be worse, you have to keep quiet,” Ahmet Doğan said. The HÖH has been the assurance of Turks in Bulgaria for long years. Now, they have a second assurance.

We are in control of the situations in Libya, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, everywhere. Can we not be in control of our kinsmen right next to us? Ahmet Doğan is in contradiction with Ankara. He is warned, but he does not listen. If he does not listen, this is what happens. Just like many other individuals and institutions in Turkey, Ahmet Doğan has also learned this.

Yalçın Doğan is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was published on Feb 15. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.