Dragan Zankow

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Dragan Zankow

Dragan Kiriakow Zankow ( Bulgarian Драган Кириаков Цанков ; born October 25, 1828 in Swishtov , † March 11, 1911 in Sofia , Bulgaria ) was a Bulgarian politician and two-time prime minister . He is considered a representative of moderate liberalism .

Life

Study and teacher

After school education in Swishtov , Elena and Gabrovo , he completed a teaching degree in Odessa and Kiev . He then worked as a teacher in Galați from 1848 to 1850 . After further studies and professional activities in Vienna , he published a grammar of the Bulgarian language in German in 1852 .

After another study and research stay, he was an editor at the newspaper България (Bulgaria) from 1859 to 1863. During this time he became a follower of the Uniate Church . In 1861 he stayed as a correspondent in Rome as Pope Pius IX. the then Archimandrite Josif Sokolski the archbishop ordained .

After his return to Swishtov in 1863 he became a civil servant in the then Ottoman administration. In 1863, however, he also resumed his work as a teacher and worked as such first in Russe , then from 1868 to 1869 in Niš and finally until 1872 in the then Ottoman district (Sanjak) Widin . From 1872 to 1876 he was an administrator and teacher in Istanbul .

independence

During his time as a teacher, Zankow took part in the struggle for a Bulgarian Orthodox Church independent of the Greek-influenced ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople , which was achieved with the Ferman for the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870.

In the following years he came increasingly in contact with the Bulgarian independence movement. A supporter of independence, he eventually became one of the leaders of the April Uprising of 1876 . He was then during the Russo-Ottoman War (1877-1878) governor of Swishtov.

After Bulgaria's (limited) independence on July 8, 1879, he was elected a member of the National Assembly, to which he initially belonged until 1881. He took part in the drafting of the first Bulgarian constitution, the " Constitution of Tarnowo ".

Prime Minister 1880

After several failed attempts to form a conservative government, Zankow was appointed Prime Minister by Prince Alexander I on April 5, 1880 . At the same time he was foreign minister and minister of religion.

Zankow's reform ideas, u. a. the conversion of the standing army into a militia , extension of the rights of Muslims and the limitation of the power of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church aroused the mistrust of the prince, who feared the possibility of a liberal revolution . When, because of his lack of communication with the prince, a series of foreign policy errors in relations with Austria-Hungary finally followed, Zankow was forced to resign on December 10, 1880.

Nevertheless, from December 10 to 29, 1880, he took over the office of Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of his successor Petko Karawelow . When the latter was overthrown by a pro-Russian military coup led by Minister of War Johann Casimir Ernrot on May 9, 1881, he was initially benevolent of this coup, but later called on his supporters to oppose the new government by all legal means. This eventually led to him being placed under house arrest .

Prime Minister 1883 to 1884

After the failure of military rule , Prince Alexander I was forced to reestablish civil rule and, on September 19, 1883, he was again appointed Prime Minister of a coalition government . From 1884 to 1886 he was also a member of the National Assembly again. In addition, during his second term in office he was again Minister of the Interior and from September 19 to October 2, 1883, also Minister for Public Education.

This government, which was in office until July 11, 1884, was regarded only as a transitional government despite its long term in office at the time. At the same time there was a split in the Liberal Party and an increase in support for his party rival Petko Karawelow . Eventually he resigned from his post as prime minister and was replaced by Karavelov as such.

Party founder and President of Parliament

After losing power, he founded the Progressive Liberal Party or Progressive Party (Прогресивнолибералната партия), whose chairman he remained until 1897. However, apart from his three-day tenure as Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of Kliment Turnowski from August 21 to August 24, 1886 to 1901, his party was without government participation. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most influential politicians of his time and a constant advocate of close relations with the Russian Empire until his death .

In 1897 he was followed by Stojan Danew as chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party. In 1899 he was re-elected a member of the National Assembly, to which he was a member until 1903. At the same time he was its president from April 22, 1902 to August 21, 1903.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chronicle of the community of Swishtov ( Memento from December 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ President of the National Assembly
predecessor Office successor
Grigor Dimitrov Natschowitsch Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria
April 7, 1880 - December 10, 1880 		Nikola Stoychev
personal data
SURNAME Zankow, Dragan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zankow, Dragan Kiriakow
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bulgarian politician and prime minister
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Swishtov
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1911
Place of death Sofia