The Bulgarian MPs changed their minds and closed the notorious ad-hock committee of inquiry on facts and circumstances related to alleged interference of Turkey and Russia into Bulgaria’s internal affairs. The committee was established on February 19 this year. The decision about the establishment of such committee was unprecedented in Bulgaria’s new history and it did not become clear what exactly the committee should investigate.

The idea about the establishment of the abovementioned committee was born after the opposition party The Movement for Rights and Freedoms ousted its former leader Lutvi Mestan and later he searched for a shelter at the Turkish embassy in Sofia. Then Mestan established his own political party with an alleged support of Ankara. Russia, on the other hand, was later “added” by the Reformist Bloc which contended that Bulgarian political parties had been systematically defending Russia’s interests in Bulgaria.

The response from Ankara and Moscow was immediate. The Ambassador of Turkey to Sofia Suleyman Gokce described the doubts about Turkish interference in Bulgaria’s internal affairs as pitiful. The Kremlin, on the other hand, described the newly-established committee as ridiculous and its establishment as a cynical act, because it was launched on the eve of the 138^th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Rule.

Then Premier Borissov unexpectedly rebuked GERB’s MPs for voting in favor of the establishment of such a committee. This committee would not do any good, Premier Borissov said and reminded that he made great efforts to improve Bulgaria’s relations with Turkey and Russia and advised the MPs to close the committee. As a result, the ad-hock parliamentary committee was closed last Wednesday with the votes of the ones who established it earlier.

Perhaps, Academician Georgi Markov made the most-precise description of that committee: “This committee was unnecessary, as there are other institutions in Bulgaria which can judge whether Russia’s and Turkey’s influence in that country abrogate the law. It is a well-known fact that Russia and Turkey have a good propaganda in Bulgaria, because they have their own mechanisms for economic, political, religious and cultural influence”. The leader of the nationalistic IMRO party Alexander Karakachanov was of the opposite opinion: “Such a committee should exist, but it must not focus on Turkey and Russia. It should also cover the activity of other countries, including the USA, Bulgaria’s neighboring countries, as well as some EU member states, which interfere in Bulgaria’s internal affairs in a brutal and unpardonable manner”.

The travesty surrounding the still-born ad-hock committee of inquiry on facts and circumstances related to alleged interference of Turkey and Russia into Bulgaria’s internal affairs brings two sad conclusions. Firstly, with their inadequate behavior the Bulgarian MPS may harm Bulgaria’s national interests in the short term, as well as in the long run. Secondly, the charismatic Bulgarian Premier has started more often to decide on his own how the MPs should vote, which is detrimental to each Parliamentary democracy and each EU member state.