Meeting with Turkey's Erdogan 'Perfectly Natural' - DPS Leader

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Luytvi Mestan. Photo: Turkish presidency press office

The talks between DPS's Chairman Lyutvi Mestan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were inevitable, necessary and of benefit to Bulgaria, Mestan himself argued.

Commenting on his meeting with Erdogan last week, he told private national channel bTV bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Turkey had topped the two's agenda, alongside the importance of Bulgaria's ethnic model in the light of the ethnic and religious challenges ahead of the Balkans, Europe and the world.

In Mestan's words, he moved to request the talks after the Turkish head of state had been sworn in.

Mestan, who was elected Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) Chairman in January 2013, had earlier met the previous President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul.

The one-hour meeting, which took place in the capital Ankara's Cankaya district, where the President resides, went on in Turkish, since it was "perfectly natural" that the two converse in their mother tongue, Mestan elaborated.

In the interview, he urged the next government to pursue policies which could make up for DPS's future absence in ethnically diverse regions and smaller towns and villages.

The leader explained the party's voters would feel unprotected when the DPS remained in opposition and investment in less densely inhabited regions would halt. 

Mestan reiterated the DPS should not be perceived as an "ethnic" party.

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