Nikolay Kirilov Dobrev () (19 October 1947 – 17 April 1999) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n politician who served as Minister of the Interior of Bulgaria between 10 May 1996 and 12 February 1997.

Biography

Dobrev studied

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

and then worked as an engineer at the Laboratory for underground nuclear geophysics and geochemistry (Bulgarian: Лаборатория по подземна и ядрена геофизика и геохимия). In 1991, Dobrev was elected as a member of the

National Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and became part of the supreme council (Bulgarian: Висшия съвет) of BSP. After Lyubomir Nachev's resignation, Dobrev succeeded him as Minister of the Interior in the

Zhan Videnov Zhan Vasilev Videnov ( ; born 22 March 1959), sometimes spelled in English as Jean Videnov, was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 25 January 1995 until 13 February 1997, a term remembered for the most severe economic and financial crisis in recent B ...

cabinet in 1996. Dobrev played an important role during the December 1996-February 1997 political deadlock in Bulgaria. After discontent against the economic policies of the Zhan Videnov government and the resulting inflation triggered massive protests, strikes as well as acts of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

, Dobrev (who was envisioned by the BSP as the next

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

following Videnov's resignation) and

Georgi Parvanov Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov (, ) (born 28 June 1957) is a Bulgarian historian and politician who was President of Bulgaria from 2002 to 2012. He was elected after defeating incumbent Petar Stoyanov in the second round of the November 2001 pres ...

reached an agreement on 4 February 1997 with then Bulgarian president

Petar Stoyanov Petar Stefanov Stoyanov (, born 25 May 1952) is a Bulgarian statesman and politician who served as the 2nd President of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2002. A member of the Union of Democratic Forces, he won the second democratic election in modern B ...

not to attempt to form a new government under the Socialists' mandate (even though they were legally entitled to do so). This paved the way for the early Parliamentary elections and ended the political crisis. He died of cancer on 17 April 1999 in

. In 2007, Dobrev was posthumously awarded with the "Justice, Freedom and Security" medal (Bulgarian: медал „Правосъдие, свобода, сигурност“) by the Ministry of the Interior. A special distinction for a young politician from the BSP is also under his name.

References

;Books : 1947 births 1999 deaths Macedonian Bulgarians Bulgarian engineers Bulgarian Socialist Party politicians Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Government ministers of Bulgaria People from Gotse Delchev 20th-century engineers {{Bulgaria-politician-stub