Bulgarian Nationalists Want to Strip Turkish Leader of MP Immunity

Nationalist Ataka leader, Volen Siderov, in altercation with police during Friday's brawl. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The controversial far-right Bulgarian Ataka (Attack) party demanded Sunday that ethnic Turcish Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader, Ahmed Dogan, should be stripped of his MP immunity.

The xenophobic party has sent a petition signed by 5 000 people to the country's Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev, demanding Dogan's immunity to be lifted, stating his political formation is promoting "fundamental Islamism", Ataka officials declared at a press conference Sunday, according to the Dnevnik daily.

"Dogan must be sued for organizing Islamist fundamentalism, organizing an Islamic fundamentalist assault against a Bulgarian MP and other crimes against the state," the petition goes. It is referring to an accident provoked by Ataka supporters Friday, when a brawl started in downtown Sofia after they disrupted a Muslim Friday prayer in front of a mosque in downtown Sofia.

During the brawl, Ataka MP Denitsa Gadzheva, was injured by a stone thrown at her, allegedly by a Muslim prayer.

The outburst occurred while the nationalists led by their Volen Siderov staged a rally near the Banya Bashi mosque in Sofia protesting against its use of loudspeakers.

On Sunday,  the anchor of a popular Bulgarian radio broadcast was forced to interrupt it after Siderov and an ethnic Turkish MP went for a fight while on air. The physical clash was provoked by the nationalist leader, according to the anchor, Velichko Konakchiev.

 "The Movement for Rights and Freedoms turned Bulgaria into a net of Islamists nests," Volen Siderov alarmed during his party's press conference.

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