“Two press offices—one from the Northeastern State Enterprise (SIDP) based in Shumen, and the other from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food—have remained conspicuously silent for over 10 days regarding personnel changes within the powerful organization managing forests and hunting grounds across four regions in northeastern Bulgaria. This silence is puzzling, as the changes are publicly documented in the Commercial Register and accessible to anyone. Furthermore, the names of the new leaders have already been posted on the SIDP website.
Despite this, the steadfast refusal of the two press offices to answer a straightforward question posed by a ‘For the Truth’ reporter on July 12 remains baffling: Are there changes in the leadership of SIDP, and who are the new appointees?”
“Meanwhile, the SIDP press office inundates the media with press releases about important forestry activities, such as meetings with kindergarten children or participation in shooting competitions, yet remains silent on straightforward journalistic inquiries regarding the new leaders of the organization. This is hardly surprising, as the press office has a history of evasion, often redirecting important questions to the Access to Public Information Act. The sentiment within the enterprise echoes the phrase coined by Boyko Borisov: ‘It was what it was, and now it will be as it was.’ It’s no coincidence that we reference him in connection with the SIDP.
Who are the new leaders of the Forest Enterprise?
On July 11, 2024, the entire Board of Directors of the SIDP was unexpectedly dismissed by a decree from Acting Minister of Agriculture Georgi Tahov. In a single day, the Chairman of the Board, Alexander Aramov, appointed by Nikolai Denkov’s government less than seven months ago, and the operational director of the SIDP, Petar Ganev, who had held his position for less than two months, were both let go. Attorney Snezhka Ivanova, the third member of the board, was also removed from her position. Employees who wished to remain anonymous reported that their dismissal was not only unexpected but also almost insulting, as they received a phone call instructing them to check their emails for their termination letters.
On the same day, unofficial reports revealed the new appointments — it turned out that a representative of the influential Beyzat Yahya family, who managed the forests for over ten years under GERB governments, would return to the helm of the SIDP. His position as Chairman of the Board is now being ‘inherited’ by his son, Ilter Beyzatov, a former GERB deputy. However, he was not re-elected in the last elections, as GERB secured only one mandate in Shumen, and this time, the leader of the deputy list did not relinquish his position to pave the way for Beyzatov, which had been common practice in previous years.”
“‘They needed to compensate him for the deputy position’—this is how most residents of Shumen interpret Beyzatov’s appointment to the SIDP.
However, insiders familiar with the significant influence of the SIDP offer a different explanation: GERB and DPS are gearing up for elections! The Northeastern State Enterprise serves as a major economic lever in the region as it manages the supply of firewood for the population, sustains nearly 1,000 employees, and oversees hunting grounds, including the former Prime Minister Borisov’s favored ‘Palamara.’
Since the directorate board of the SIDP is appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture, these positions typically go to individuals close to the ruling parties. According to those working in the forestry sector, the new director Ivelin Todorov is affiliated with the DPS–Peevski faction, while Ilter Beyzatov, understandably, is aligned with GERB. Interestingly, the third appointment to the board is Aysel Mustafa, who, as per reports from staff, is related to the mayor of Varbitsa, Merdin Bayram (DPS).
Thus, the vast Northeastern Enterprise has once again fallen into the hands of DPS and GERB, courtesy of the acting Minister of Agriculture. ‘It’s as if we haven’t lived through the last three years; everything is just the way it was, and the forestry sector is back under Beyzat’s control,’ commented employees from the SIDP.
A State Enterprise ‘by Inheritance’
Ilter Beyzatov’s father, Beyzat Yahya, is notably close to Boyko Borisov and served as his personal translator during a meeting with Erdogan in 2021. The Yahya family hails from Venets, where they still reside.
For a decade until 2021, Beyzat Yahya was the chairman of the SIDP board, and as an unofficial host, he welcomed Boyko Borisov to his favored hunting grounds, Palamara. In the same state enterprise, Yahya’s son, Ilter Beyzatov, had been appointed as the deputy director.”
“Until 2019, Beyzat Yahya was one of the closest associates of Ahmed Dogan and one of the most influential figures of the DPS in the Northeastern region. He served two terms as the chairman of the municipal council in Venets. In 2019, Yahya migrated to GERB but managed to maintain his influence in the area. He is also close to former Lukoil Bulgaria CEO Valentin Zlatev, whose father manages the Palamara hunting grounds under a lease agreement until 2033. During Beyzat Yahya’s tenure as chairman of the municipal council in Venets, Zlatev was honored as an honorary citizen of the village.
After the influential family shifted their allegiance to GERB, Yahya’s son, Ilter Beyzatov, was integrated by Boyko Borisov into the national leadership of the party and was subsequently placed in a strategic second position on GERB’s candidate list for Shumen. In July 2021, Beyzatov became the sole GERB deputy in the region after the list leader Krasimir Velchev stepped aside to make way for him. This tactic was repeated in all parliamentary elections leading up to 2024. In that election, Ilter Beyzatov emerged as the undisputed champion in terms of preferences in the region. In April 2021, he ranked among the top five in the country for personal preferences, receiving nearly 7,000 votes. His ‘nationwide affection’ was most evident in the village of Vŭlnari, where out of 401 ballots cast for GERB, 400 marked a preference for Beyzatov. Only one voter failed to designate him as their preferred candidate.”
“In 2021, Beyzat Yahya was dismissed from his position as chairman of the SIDP board and in January 2022, he was charged by the prosecutor’s office with money laundering, suspected of transferring approximately 300 million BGN to Turkey, with which he allegedly purchased a luxury property in Istanbul. Various media reports linked this purchase to the relocation of former model Borislava Yovcheva from Barcelona to Istanbul following the scandal surrounding her residence in the Catalan capital.
The investigation into Yahya commenced after police operations and searches of his properties in Venets at the beginning of 2022. The pre-trial proceedings experienced dramatic twists, being extended several times and ‘pulled’ to Sofia at the direction of then Chief Prosecutor Ivan Gechev. The case continued in complete silence until early 2023 when it was closed by supervising prosecutor Danail Shostak from the Shumen District Prosecutor’s Office. At that time, the state prosecution refused to disclose the reasons for halting the investigation against Yahya.
In May 2023, the investigation against Beyzat Yahya was surprisingly revived. Moreover, it was removed from the Shumen prosecutor’s office and reassigned to the Varna District Prosecutor’s Office, which in turn handed it back to the first prosecutor who worked on the case—Violeta Radeva.
A year later, it emerged that the investigation had been put ‘on hold’ pending legal assistance from Turkey, despite the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office having gathered sufficient evidence to support the money laundering charges against Beyzat Yahya. The information was obtained from the Varna District Prosecutor’s Office in response to inquiries from a reporter at ‘For the Truth’.
According to the state prosecution, evidence has been gathered indicating that while Beyzat Yahya was the chairman of the SIDP board, administrative buildings and large plots of land were sold at undervalued prices through the state enterprise. Unfavorable contracts for joint ventures in the hunting grounds were also made, as well as disadvantageous rental agreements for premises.
Many of the transactions were fictitious, where the actual buyer was Yahya himself, according to the prosecution’s information. After being dismissed from his position at SIDP in 2021, Yahya reportedly resold a significant portion of the properties to third parties, with the proceeds from these sales allegedly being illegally transferred to Turkey. That same year, Yahya purchased an expensive residence in Istanbul. He claims a second property there was acquired in pursuit of Turkish citizenship. Following the charges against him, Yahya left for Turkey, where he currently resides. The case is now on hold, awaiting legal assistance from Turkey, the prosecution states.
In light of this investigation, the appointment of Yahya’s son to the same management position once held by his father is troubling.
The ‘Machine’ SIDP
By taking control of the powerful forestry enterprise, the parties DPS and GERB gain significant influence in the upcoming early elections, especially in small, impoverished municipalities. The Northeastern Enterprise, with its nearly one thousand workers and their associated families, can serve as an unrivaled machine for controlling votes.
Amid the open conflict within the DPS, it remains unclear which faction actually governs the SIDP—whether it is that of honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan or the globally sanctioned Delian Peevski. Currently, the municipal structures of DPS in the Shumen region support Dogan, while the regional leadership appears to be caught between two stools, backing both Dogan and the Shumen deputy close to Peevski, Hamid Hamid.“
“The SIDP encompasses 13 forestry and 5 hunting estates across 4 regions in the Northeast—Shumen, Varna, Targovishte, and Dobrich. The enterprise operates with millions of leva, providing salaries for nearly a thousand employees; it reported annual revenues of 63.3 million BGN, with 991 personnel on staff according to the latest published activity report for 2022.
The average salary for administration staff at SIDP in 2022 was 3,075 BGN, while those employed in operational activities earned an average of 2,395 BGN. These are high wages for the two smallest and poorest municipalities in Shumen—Venets and Nikola Kozlevo—where job opportunities are primarily limited to the municipal office, the forest enterprise, and agricultural work.
Amid the high unemployment rates and typical salaries ranging from 800 to 1,000 BGN, positions at the forestry enterprise are among the most sought-after, though almost unattainable. In the forestry section of Nikola Kozlevo, for instance, there are six forest guards, each responsible for over 20,000 decares of forested land. ‘The area is vast, but we manage,’ explains one of the forest guards. Despite facing issues with poaching, the forest guards in Nikola Kozlevo do not even consider seeking other employment. ‘There are no job opportunities anywhere in the municipality,’ admits a long-serving guard. His base salary is 1,600 BGN, with additional pay for years of service. He is acutely aware that if he were to be dismissed, he would have to leave his home and travel to the larger cities, like many of his neighbors.
During elections, many individuals in such situations are likely to vote as instructed by their superiors…“
