Debate contributions by Ilhan KYUCHYUK

Mr President, these days mark 40 years of the so-called revival process, a cynical name for the attempt at total assimilation of the Bulgarian Turks in Bulgaria. Of course, these 40 years also have their backstory – what happened in the 1960s and 1970s with the story of our Pomaks brothers and sisters. What does a revival process mean? It's hard to explain in 30 seconds, but let me try. You are born Johann and a few years later you are renamed Ilian. It's different, isn't it? You speak your mother tongue and at some point you realize that you have to pay a fine. That's what my parents paid for. And when you disobey, there's a fight. And when you disobey again, more fights and jails and concentration camps. And so an identity is erased. These are some of the dark pages of Bulgarian history. And if you ask me right here, at the point of reconciliation between Germany and France, Alsace, whether the Bulgarian state has done enough, it has done almost nothing. Bulgarian justice was concerned with everything, but not with providing answers to the difficult questions that still remain.

Madam President, Atamana, Galata, Sharana, Diapers, Three Hicks - these are not the names of cartoon characters, nor are they superstars from the Hollywood industry, but voice buyers who are ready to do the largest vote-buying action in my country, Bulgaria. Of course, the action is followed by other things, and there are its prehistory as dismissals of people, as punishment for those who define themselves as naughty. And if you ask yourself why this is aimed at, there is only one goal - to recharge the power of Delyan Peevski once again so that he can manage the institutions in the country so that he can benefit uncontrollably from the democratic mechanisms of the country. This is not the rule of law I dreamed of. This is not the rule of law for which many have given their lives to be part of this democratic space. We need protection, but first we need to join forces to build this democratic immunity in Bulgaria. We will do it with the strong voice of the Bulgarian citizens on October 27th. But my request to the European institutions is to make sure that this phenomenon gets its political repercussions.

Member of the Commission. - Mr President, I am, of course, taking the floor in the presence of the European Commission to ask a fundamental question - how are the rules being respected in the EU? When there is a regulation or directive, does it apply to all countries and is subject to equal treatment, or can each country choose which to apply and which not to apply? My main question relates to the scope of Regulation No 883/2004 and I ask whether treatment is possible. This issue gained popularity in Bulgaria as the so-called "French unemployment" and despite the referral to the Bulgarian national authorities, mainly from the region of Blagoevgrad, 8 000 signatures were deposited at the registry of the Bulgarian institutions. And notice - silence. I asked the Commissioner for Social Policy of the European Union a question and he replied to me again in the same blanket way: ‘Every country can regulate its own legislation when it comes to the field of social policy’. This is a double standard, there cannot be one standard for Western European countries and another standard for Eastern European countries. I see that my fellow citizens, especially from Blagoevgrad, are harmed and we will seek our rights to the end. I speak for them, I speak for me.