Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance

Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance (Bulgarian: Демократи за отговорност, свобода и толерантност, romanized: Demokrati otgovornost, svoboda i tolerantnost) is a liberal and centrist political party in Bulgaria, mainly representing the Turkish minority. The party is led by Lyutvi Mestan.

Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance Bulgarian: Демократи за отговорност, свобода и толерантност Turkish: Sorumluluk, Özgürlük ve Hoşgörü için Demokratlar
Abbreviation	DOST
Leader	Lyutvi Mestan
Founded	10 April 2016; 8 years ago (2016-04-10)
Split from	Movement for Rights and Freedoms
Headquarters	26-30th Building, Bacho Kiro St., Sofia
Youth wing	Youth Movement DOST
Ideology	Liberalism^{[citation needed]} Turkish minority interests Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre^{[citation needed]}
Colours	Blue Yellow
National Assembly	0 / 240
European Parliament	0 / 17
Municipalities	0 / 265
Website
dost.bg
Politics of Bulgaria Political parties Elections

Mestan, a long-time politician and member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria for Kardzhali,^[1] served as chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), the main Turkish party in Bulgaria, from January 2013 to 24 December 2015. He was removed as party leader by the DPS central council and expelled from the party for what was considered an excessively pro-Turkish government stance following the downing of a Russian bomber jet by the Turkish Air Force.^[2]

Mestan and his followers within the DPS subsequently founded a new party, DOST.^[3]

In the 2017 parliamentary election the party obtained 2.9% of the vote (21.6% in Kardzhali) and no seat as it failed to meet the 4% electoral threshold.

References edit

^ . Archived from the original on 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2014-05-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Bulgaria's DPS Party Expels Chairman Lyutvi Mestan". novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. 24 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
^ "Ousted Leader of Bulgaria's DPS Lyutvi Mestan Launches DOST Political Project". Novinite. 2016-02-27. Retrieved 2016-06-14.