The suicide of Ahmed Emin (45), one of the people closest to Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - a minority party within the tripartite ruling coaltion - brought Dogan's party into a new era.

Before October 17, the day that Emin was found dead in a room just metres from where Dogan reportedly was, most comments on the party were concentrated on its ability to discipline voters, the majority of whom are Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent. Further, there have been constant allegations from opposition parties about how well Dogan has managed to benefit from his party's close to eight years in power.

These allegations have always drawn a calm and often patronising response from Dogan, who has always emerged victorious at the end of every turmoil involving the MRF, whether about accusations of abuse of power, conflict of interest or serving the interests of neighbouring Turkey, as the ultra-nationalist Ataka party claims. The past seven years that the MRF has spent as a ruling coalition partner has given its critics more than enough time to make their allegations.

All critics, however, can agree on one thing: Dogan is the only politician in Bulgaria who knows how to select, train and put into top public positions people whose personal loyalty to him knows no limits. Usually such people come from the small and often remote villages populated with Muslim Bulgarians, the core of MRF supporters. Such was the case with Ahmed Emin, who came to Sofia in his capacity as mayor of the small village of Koznitsa in central Bulgaria. As such, Emin became one of the closest personal aides to Dogan, who made him the head of his political office. Another case is former agriculture minister Nihat Kabil, born in the small village of Podaiva or one of Kabil's predecessors, Mehmed Dikme, born in Byal Izvor village.

In return for his support, Dogan was given the opportunity to move his fellow party members from one post to another without meeting any resistance, as was the case with Kabil who left his cabinet post earlier this year to become an MP. The result has always been that whatever arguments there were within the MRF, nothing was ever revealed on the surface and Dogan kept on playing his game. Only one attempt was made by Dikme at the 2007 local elections when he stood against the MRF in Nedelino town, but he quickly went into political oblivion.

Now Emin's death has put an end to this, or so it seems. His death, as shocking as it might have been for Dogan, showed that something must have gone terribly wrong on October 17 when Emin was found dead. Nothing else could explain a decision to die by a 45-year-old successful party functionary and father of three children.

Conspiracy theories
As usual the announcement of Emin's death was followed by conspiracy theories, mainly that Emin had been murdered. Some theories linked Emin's death to the famous words Dogan said in 2005, that every political party had a circle of companies that served each other's interests. As one of the people closest to Dogan, Emin no doubt knew all about the financing of the MRF, such theories said. The State Agency for National Security (SANS) was also involved. More precisely the fact that SANS deputy head Ivan Drahskov had been sacked a few days previously by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, with only a vague explanation being offered, and the harsh opposition that Drashkov's dismissal met from Dogan. It was the first public disagreement in the past three-and-a-half years between Dogan and Stanishev, which suggested that Drashkov had MRF backing.

Behind this theory is Assen Agov of right-wing minority opposition party the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, who told Bulgarian National Radio that Drashkov was sacked because of a SANS investigation into MRF financing, and because Emin knew everything about Dogan's financial moves, he became a victim. Of what and whom Agov did not say. Add the media speculation that Emin was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Bulgaria and things really become mysterious.

And there was the matter of a letter that Emin reportedly wrote before pulling the trigger. Two days after his death, police said that there was a letter found with him. Media speculation said that he spent three pages addressing Dogan, his father and his children. Why the police waited for two days to say that there had been a suicide note fuelled further speculation. The basis of all these theories were the words of Emin's father and friends, some of whom had been in contact with Emin a few days before his death. They said that he did not seem to be a person with problems and it was impossible to believe that he could have killed himself.

If these were just words of people in denial of the fact their loved one could have taken his own life, the conspiracy theories would not have been such an important issue. However, Dogan's reaction, or lack of it, has not helped. As of October 22, when The Sofia Echo went to press, Dogan had made no comment. He did not attend Emin's funeral and since October 17 has stayed away from any public appearances.

The only official reaction from the MRF was an October 22 statement saying that the party hoped for a quick investigation, the result of which must become public knowledge. It said nothing about Dogan going public on why his closest assistant chose to end his life.