Dimitar Panayotov Grekov () (14 September 1847 – 7 May 1901) was a leading Bulgarian

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician who also served as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. A native of

Bolgrad Bolhrad ( uk, Болгра́д, Bolhrad, ; bg, Болград, Bolgrad; ro, Bolgrad, Gagauz: ''Bolgrad''), is a small city in Odesa Oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Budjak. It is the administrative center o ...

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

(now Bolhrad,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

), Grekov was educated at a French legal school.Assen Nicoloff, ''The Bulgarian Resurgence'', A. Nicoloff, 1987, p. 106 Grekov, at the time a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

, was a member of the Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly convened in February 1879, a body that formed the basis of the national parliament of the newly independent state. In the 1879 cabinet of

Todor Burmov Todor ( Bulgarian, and sr, Тодор/Todor) is a Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian given name, a local rendering of the name Theodore. The Hungarian form of the name is rendered similarly as ''Tódor''. It is the most common name in Bulgarian vil ...

he served as Minister of Justice, the first of an independent Bulgaria. In 1886 prime minister and regent

Stefan Stambolov Stefan Nikolov Stambolov ( bg, Стефан Николов Стамболов) (31 January 1854 OS– 19 July 1895 OS) was a Bulgarian politician, journalist, revolutionary, and poet who served as Prime Minister and regent. He is consider ...

chose Grekov, along with

Konstantin Kanchev The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Russian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor Constantine the Gre ...

and

Konstantin Stoilov Konstantin Stoilov ( bg, Константин Стоилов) (23 September 1853 O.S. – 23 March 1901 O.S. ) was a leading Bulgarian politician and twice Prime Minister. Simeon Radev described him as the most European-like of all Bulgarian ...

, to travel around Europe in order to find a prince suitable for the throne of Bulgaria. The three man team searched in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and were refused entry into

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

before settling on Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, to whom they offered the crown.Perry, ''Stefan Stambolov'', pp. 112-113 Grekov was appointed prime minister on 30 January 1899 and was removed from office on 13 October that same year after a brief and unremarkable tenure.

References

1847 births 1901 deaths Chairpersons of the National Assembly of Bulgaria People from Bolhrad Bessarabian Bulgarians Conservative Party (Bulgaria) politicians People's Liberal Party politicians Prime Ministers of Bulgaria 19th-century Bulgarian people Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Justice ministers of Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-politician-stub