PoliticsBulgaria: Assassination thwarted: Ethnic Turk political party leader unscathed

To me, it's amazing how little we hear of internal political strife in the former East Bloc countries of Europe now that the Iron Curtain is gone and several wars have been fawt (the Balkans, for instance).  New states have emerged like Kosovo.  But at the moment, I wonder is the seeming peace from my angle only a media effect because with other exotic "wars and rumous of wars" taking place around the world, is it that former Communist countries of East Europe just don't register in the cognitive games of the internantional news media establishments?  Well, we darn well almost had an assassination.  Perhaps the mainstream media broke thru its usual letheragy toward states like Bulgaria because, in this instance, the role of the ethnic Turks in Bulgaria — with other Muslims there, some 12% of the population — a fawlt line of inter-ethnic sensitivity appears, and the even the mainstream international media understand that.  What impressed me, is that the party leader of Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Ahmed Dogan struck back and deflected the aim of the assassin.  We'll hear more about his possible motives later on.

— Politicarp, refWrite Frontpage politics newspotter, analyst, columnist

Delegates wrestle man to ground after he points gun at Bulgaria party leader

Published January 19, 2013

Associated Press

FoxNews.com  (Jan20,2k13)

SOFIA, Bulgaria –  Bulgarian police detained a man after he pointed a gas pistol at an ethnic Turkish [political] party leader as he was delivering a speech at a party caucus in the capital Saturday. No shots were fired.

The video from the Saturday event in Sofia shows the man climbing the podium where Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, was speaking, and pointing the gun to his face.

Dogan struck the man before he could pull the trigger, while other delegates wrestled the assailant to the ground. TV footage showed several people punching, kicking and stomping on the man when he was on the ground.

Police arrested him and took him to a hospital. It wasn't immediately clear if he sustained serious injuries, or how he got past security to enter the hall with nearly 3,000 people attending.

 Eventually, the attacker was identified by police as 25-year-old Oktai Enimehmedov, a Bulgarian national and ethnic Turk, from the coastal city of Burgas. He was carrying the gas pistol and two knives. A gas pistol is a non-lethal weapon used for self-defense, but experts say when fired from close range it can cause life-threatening injuries.

Interior Minister Tsvevtan Tsvetanov told journalists that the assailant had a criminal record for drugs possession, robberies and hooliganism.

The liberal MRF party mainly represents ethnic Turks and other Muslims in Bulgaria, who make up 12 percent of its 7.3-million population.

The conference had to elect a new leader to succeed Dogan, who is one of the Balkan country's most influential political figures. The 58-year-old has been at the helm of the party since founding it in 1990.

Lyutvi Mestan, who was expected to become the new party leader, said "the true reason for the assault was the language of hatred and confrontation."

Saturday's assault was the gravest attack on a politician in post-communist Bulgaria after the 1996 killing of ex-prime Minister Andrei Lukanov.

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