SHORTLY after Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg said on Monday that he would make certain changes to the Cabinet, it became clear that two deputy defence ministers would be changed. Later the same day Defence Minister Nikolai Svinarov dismissed Mehmed Djafer and Georgi Paskov, both his deputies.

The motivation for the dismissal was based on the fact that Djafer and Paskov were partially responsible for the scandal at the Terem military factory.

At the end of last year, several days before the Bulgaria's expected invitation to join NATO, a scandal erupted over the export to Syria of military potential dual-use products from the Terem military factory in Turgovishte. The US Department of State investigated the case and prepared a report for the Bulgarian Government.

Djafer was the head of the board of directors of the factory and shortly after the scandal Svinarov dismissed him. Paskov was responsible for the commercial activities and the modernisation of the armed forces.

Government spokesperson Dimitar Tsonev said that Djafer's and Paskov's dismissal was based on political responsibility. "However, this does not concern established culpability as the investigation on the deals continues and should establish the availability of evidence for committed crimes," Tsonev said.

Paskov said that his dismissal was prompted by shared political responsibility and was not connected to the Terem case in any way. "I explained the motivation for my dismissal with the fact that Bulgaria is governed by a coalition and that political responsibility must be shared among the partners," Paskov said on Bulgarian National Radio.

Nominations for successors to the positions are still underway. According to Saxe-Coburg, it is normal for one of the new deputy ministers to be from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), as Djafer was.

The MRF is a coalition partner of the ruling National Movement Simeon II (NMSII), and, according to agreements between the two parties, the MRF quota in the Government must be abided by. MRF leader Ahmed Dogan said any doubt about the responsibility for the Terem scandal must be eliminated. "It will probably take at least a week for the MRF to name a candidate for Djafer's position," Dogan said.