DR. GEORGI VULKOVICH AND "BULGARIAN EASTER"

Georgi Vulkovich is born in the city of Odrin and the year is 1833. His parents are settlers from Koprivtiza and are from the big and influential Chalukov's family - drovers and retail dealers. In fact, he is little cousin of Dr. Christo Chomakov whom we have spoken about earlier. Georgi received solid primary education for the time at the greek community in Odrin and his father - Vulko Kurtovich - did not saved his pocket to educate his son. Thus, according newspaper "Svoboda" in Tzarigrad from 1850, Georgi Vuvkovich is the first bulgarian admitted to study in the Military Medical Academy. In 1857 a young graduate, Dr. Vulkovich entered for an examination in the hospital of Hayder Pasha in the town and is appointed chief ordinator in surgery. Three years later, he depart for Paris to study for a qualification and here is a place to remain for long years and entangle in political activities, as well.

In Paris during the 60s swarms a multitude of people from different nationalities and various creeds. It was an arena for struggle between royalists and republicans and preceding the commune of the Third Republic. Dr. Vulkovich was "not so lazy he could not tie his own shoelaces", as a well known aristocrat Comte de Chambord remarked at that time. He joined an underground organization called "Circle of Faithful Friends" which defended the patriotic rights of Tzarigrad's youth. Via this organization Dr. Vulkovich went to London where he met with russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin /1814-1876/, a man who fell out with Marx and a tireless yet strangely ineffective revolutionary leader. The latter made a strong influence on the young patriot. Next, in the autumn of 1871 Dr. Vulkovich made an interesting correspondence with bulgarian revolutionary G. S. Rakovsky - founder of First Bulgarian Legion in Belgrade. A letter dated from 14 November 1861 is sent from Rakovsky, saying "… by the way, we need a man who could treat wounds made of guns, swords, etc …". Dr. Georgi Vilkovich with a letter from 27 December 1861, reply "… I accept readily such a honorable position and it is a high time that every patriotic bulgarian should give a token for love in front of his homeland …".

Now, in year 1865 Dr. Vulkovich receive a new assignment. He is transferred to serve in Syria where he becomes chief surgeon in "shamsi villaet" of Damask. We don't have much information about that period of his life but we see him again back in Tzarigrad in 1870. He is already an adjunct professor in surgery at the Military Medical Academy and head of the board of directors at "Hayder Pasha's Hospital". Vulkovich gets a fame as a skilled and able medicus. He had a private practice that was in quest by all foreign attaches in Tzarigrad, as well as, many a local "effendies" or high-stream civilians and their families. This allowed him to excel - he make sharp advance in the army and is promoted to a rank "colonel" with a pay increase. In 1872 Dr. Vulkovich is already a "bey" in the civil administration of the town. In 1876 during the Serbo-Turk War he is raised further to a position of "mirilay-bey" in the occupied territory of Serbia and head of M.A.S.H along the "Nish-Sofia's Strip".

However, during the Russo-Turk War next year everything comes to an abrupt end. Dr. Vulkovich is appointed member of "International Committee on Atrocities of War" and after visiting the destructed villages and towns in Bulgaria and meeting remnants from the partisan's detachments of the April Uprising, consequently, this makes him write a report and send it to the British Council. This act of patriotism, however, is ill appraised. Midhad Pasha's agents make a report which accuse Dr. Vulkovich of betrayal and a sentence is issued that he is exiled in Damask. This episodes from his life are well described in the memoirs of Dr. Christo Stambolsky - another well known bulgarian medicus on service in the turkish army.

So far, on 3 March 1878 the peace treaty in San Stefane, a suburb of Tzarigrad, gives an amnesty to all political prisoners of bulgarian descent. The dawn of modern history in Bulgaria is a fruitful field for progress, especially, for people with a rich biography in administration work. Prince Dondukov-Korsakov, temporary governor of newly liberated bulgarian lands, invites Dr. Vulkovich with a position in the I^st Great National Assembly. Vulkovich join the conservative party and participate actively in the elaboration of the new constitution. Afterwards, he moves to Plovdiv and becomes member of the Regional Assembly. Until the Unification Act in 1885, Dr. Vulkovich occupies different posts in the commanding apparatus of the autonomous region of Eastern Rumelia. This are in chronological order: minister of "Agriculture, Trade and Public Building" /1879/, minister of "Post Office and Telegraph" /1881/, second-time minister of "Agriculture, Trade and Public Building" 1882/, minister of "Foreign Affair and Religion" /1883/. In the parliamentary season 1885-1886, Dr. Vulkovich is appointed Chairman of the National Assembly and next year on March 1887 is sent Bulgarian Diplomatic Attache in Tzarigrad. Accidentally, Dr. Georgi Vulkovich died in the turkish capital on 14 February 1892.

Let us communicate briefly on Dr. Vulkovich's carrier as a politician:

1. He was instrumental in the Kingdom's early statute as an independent nation. Thus, he acquired from the "Great Vizier" of the Golden Horn to make direct contacts with the "harjie" or foreign minister. The acceptance of Bulgaria as a separate unit and not as a privileged province is an important step towards a retribution of Modern Bulgaria and the establishment of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom in 1908.

2. He makes everything possible for achieving cooperation between the Balkan States on a larger scale. This is made by signing mutually beneficial trade and communication conventions with the neighboring countries - Rumania, Serbia, Greece and Turkey. He is first to establish diplomatic relations with Monte Negro. The purpose of the Balkan Federation is double-fold: once, in the strategic interests of each participating county in the region and twice, to fence off the influence of the "Great Concert" in the affairs on the peninsula.

3. He protects bulgarian economical interests from collapse in national and international relations. While it is impossible to enumerate every contribution he made in the administration and legislation field, some more important are: opening an Agricultural School in Sadovo; opening a Telegraphic School in Sofia; modernization of the harbor in Varna; building new hospitals in Sofia, Silistra and Rouse, etc. So far, the most important asset of Dr. Vulkovich's work is his effort to enhance the communication network of the country, viz. building new roads on a line; transferring new telegraph lines, etc. We must point out his efforts to strengthen the railway system in the country. For instance, he organized the state purchase of the line Rouse-Varna from the Hirsh Co. in Vienna and much more.