When we have to choose between the rules of foreign countries and our national values, we choose national values. This is what Member of the Parliament of Bulgaria Alexander Simov told journalists today as he shared the Bulgarian experience with respect to the Istanbul Convention.

“As the Bulgarian Socialist Party, we are a member of the bloc of European socialist parties which supports the Istanbul Convention. When we launched the struggle against the Convention, the alliance sent four delegations to have us adopt the Convention. Of course, we couldn’t do that. Without any decision, Bulgarian institutions began to write parent 1 and parent 2 in official documents, but thanks to protests and demonstrations, the process was discontinued. However, there was still pressure to adopt the Convention. Ten days ago, the European Parliament voted that every member state of the European Union must ratify the Convention, if it hasn’t yet. However, all Bulgarians are against ratification of the Convention, and I believe the European Union will fail. The Bulgarian experience is important and shows what should be done in countries that are against the Convention,” he stated.

According to the MP, what was important for Bulgaria was that the President stood by the people’s side, and this was a major contribution to the Bulgarians’ victory.

“We don’t want to beat women. We have a law on domestic violence. It’s clear that the aim of the Istanbul Convention is not to prevent domestic violence, but introduce the ideology of gender in schools,” he said.

The MP also stressed that Bulgaria isn’t against gays and transgenders and believes the country has good laws that protect their rights.