SOFIA  - A man carrying a gas pistol attacked Bulgaria’s veteran Turkish minority party leader Ahmed Dogan while he was speaking at a national party conference on Saturday, but he escaped unharmed, police said. Dogan was addressing delegates when the man rushed up to his podium and pointed the weapon at his head. The attacker did not fire a shot and was quickly disarmed by delegates, witnesses told state BNR radio. Dogan was not injured in the attack, his deputy Lyutvi Mestan said. Police later confirmed in a statement that the 25-year-old attacker was armed with a gas pistol and two knifes.
Dogan, 58, who has led the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party since its formation 23 years ago, was largely expected to announce Saturday that he was stepping down. Bulgaria has a 10-percent minority of ethnic Turks, whose staunch support has ensured the participation of the liberal MRF party in two successive coalition governments between 2001 and 2009.