Dimitar Petkov

Photo taken around 1906

Dimitar Nikolow Petkow ( Bulgarian Димитър Николов Петков ; born November 2, 1856 or 1858 in Başköy, today Nicolae Bălcescu , Tulcea County , Romania ; † March 11, 1907 in Sofia ( assassination )) was a Bulgarian politician and prime minister . He is the only Prime Minister in Bulgaria who was murdered during his tenure. The politicians Nikola Petkow and Petko Petkow were his sons.

Life

Independence fighter

During the Serbian-Ottoman War of 1876 and the Russian-Ottoman War from 1877 to 1878 , he was adjutant in the Tscheta des Heiducken and Vojwode Panajot Chitow and as such took part in the bitter battles for Stara Sagora and the Shipka Pass . He lost his left arm in the process.

After Bulgaria's (limited) independence from the Ottoman Empire on July 8, 1879, he first joined the Liberal Party (bulg. Либералната партия ). Between 1882 and 1884 he was alone during the reign of Prince Alexander I in custody. He then became a close associate of the future Prime Minister Stefan Stambolow and joined his People's Liberal Party (Bulgarian Народнолибералната партия ).

Political career

His actual political career began in 1884 when he was elected member of the National Assembly, to which he initially belonged until 1894. In 1885 he became chairman of a Macedonian Liberation Committee.

On September 1, 1888, at the age of only thirty, he was elected mayor of Sofia . He held this office until October 7, 1893. At the same time, he was President of the National Assembly from December 14, 1892 to November 19, 1893. From 1899 to 1900 and then again from 1902 until his death he was again a member of the National Assembly.

On December 1, 1893, Prime Minister Stefan Stambolow appointed him Minister for Public Education in his cabinet, to which he was a member until the end of Stambolov's term of office on May 31, 1894.

After Stambolov's assassination attempt on July 18, 1895, he succeeded him as chairman of the National Liberal Party. However, he gave this office to Dimitar Panajotow Grekov the following year . When he again died on May 7, 1901, Petkow was his successor again chairman of the party until his death.

On May 19, 1903 he was appointed Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of Ratscho Petrov . At the same time, on December 19, 1905, Petrov appointed him again Minister for Public Education.

On November 5, 1906, Prince Ferdinand I appointed him prime minister himself as the successor to Petrov , and he retained his two previous ministerial offices until his death through an assassination attempt.

His sons Nikola Petkow and Petko Petkow were also politically active. Like his father, Petko Petkow died as a result of an assassination attempt; his brother Nikola was executed in 1947.

Web links

• Biographical information in rulers.org
• Bulgaria 1896-1914
• The Assassination of Petkov (Bulgarian)

Individual evidence

1. ^ President of the National Assembly