Dimitar Nikolov Petkov () (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 5 November 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.Thomas McGonigle, The corpse dream of N. Petkov, Northwestern University Press, 2000, p. 29
Petkov spent five years (1888–1893) as mayor of Sofia and during his time in charge he undertook an extensive redevelopment of the city.Duncan M. Perry, Stefan Stambolov and the emergence of modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895, Duke University Press, 1993, p. 185
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.R. J. Crampton, Bulgaria, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 451 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.R. J. Crampton, A concise history of Bulgaria, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 127
Petkov was finally appointed Prime Minister in November 1906, but held the post for only a few months; on 11 March 1907, he was assassinated by gunshot in Sofia's Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard by Aleksandar Petrov, a disgruntled former employee of the Bulgarian Agricultural Bank. Petrov was put on trial, handed a death sentence and executed by hanging in July 1907.
His son Nikola Petkov was also a politician in post-war Bulgaria before being put to death in 1947.Joseph Rothschild, The Communist party of Bulgaria: origins and development, 1883-1936, AMS Press, 1972, p. 37
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