Bulgarian PM Borissov to join European leaders at Unity rally in Paris
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov would take part in the Unity Rally in Paris on January 11, to express Bulgaria’s solidarity with the French people and protest against the January 7 attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the government media office in Sofia said.
The terrorist attack by a group allegedly linked to radical Islamist organisations resulted in 17 deaths, including Charlie Hedbo staff, police officers and people at a kosher supermarket in Paris.
Speaking in a television inter view on January 10, Borissov said that if there was any goal behind the attacks in the French capital, it was to create chaos, “and after the chaos, a civil war”.
The goal was demonise Muslims and in turn, to demonise Christians in the eyes of Muslims, Borissov said, and in turn, “for the world to be divided along another axis, a religious one, and then chaos will be guaranteed”.
Borissov said that there already was success in these goals: “I listen to people around me, I hear what they say, I see the hatred, and I see their feelings – their feeling of revenge, that is looming larger”. This meant that the world was different from the way it was a few days ago, he said.
“I wish if I can somehow tell people in Bulgaria to defy these sentiments. It is very easy that in Bulgaria too, things get out of control. I very much believe in the wisdom of the Bulgarian people. I hope that in Europe and in the Arab world, people will be wise,” Borissov said.
In the interview, Borissov indicated that Bulgaria’s own security services had in recent days averted “a specific incident” but he declined to give details, saying only that the country’s services had “done a good job”.
The leaders who are to participate in the January 11 Unity Rally in France are to include French president François Hollande, Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko, German chancellor Angela Merkel, UK prime minister David Cameron, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka, US attorney general Eric Holder, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, king Abdullah II of Jordan, European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, while Arab League representatives and some Muslim African leaders also intend to participate, reports said.
