Dimitar Petkov

For the Bulgarian footballer, see Dimitar Petkov (footballer).
Dimitar Petkov
Димитар Петков
14th Prime Minister of Bulgaria
In office
December 6, 1906  March 11, 1907
Monarch Ferdinand
Preceded by Racho Petrov
Succeeded by Dimitar Stanchov (Acting)
Personal details
Born 2 November 1858
Tulcea, Ottoman Empire now in Romania
Died 11 March 1907 (aged 48)
Sofia, Bulgaria
Nationality Bulgarian
Political party People's Liberal Party

Dimitar Nikolov Petkov (Bulgarian: Димитър Петков) (2 November 1858, Tulcea 11 March 1907, Sofia) was a leading member of the Bulgarian People's Liberal Party and the country's Prime Minister from November 5, 1906 until he was assassinated in Sofia the following year.

A veteran of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 he fought for the Russian Imperial Army at the Battle of Shipka Pass where he lost an arm during the combat.[1]

Petkov spent five years (1888–1893) as mayor of Sofia and during his time in charge he undertook an extensive redevelopment of the city.[2]

Following the death of Stefan Stambolov in 1895 he took over as leader of People's Liberal Party, a role he held until his own death when Nikola Genadiev succeeded him.[3] Petkov's party took office in 1903 following the resignation of Stoyan Danev but Ferdinand I of Bulgaria chose a non-party Prime Minister, his close friend Racho Petrov, instead of Petkov.[4] He was finally appointed Prime Minister in November 1906 but held the post for only a few months as he was murdered by an anarchist in Sofia's Boulevard Alexander II on 11 March 1907.[5]

His son Nikola Petkov was also a politician in post-war Bulgaria before being put to death in 1947.[6]

References

  1. Thomas McGonigle, The corpse dream of N. Petkov, Northwestern University Press, 2000, p. 29
  2. Duncan M. Perry, Stefan Stambolov and the emergence of modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895, Duke University Press, 1993, p. 185
  3. R. J. Crampton, Bulgaria, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 451
  4. R. J. Crampton, A concise history of Bulgaria, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 127
  5. McGonigle, The corpse dream of N. Petkov, p. 32
  6. Joseph Rothschild, The Communist party of Bulgaria: origins and development, 1883-1936, AMS Press, 1972, p. 37