Georgi Valkovich

Who was Georgi Valkovich?

Georgi Valkovich Cholakov was a Bulgarian physician, diplomat and conservative politician. Among the leading surgeons in the Ottoman Empire, Valkovich became one of the leaders of the Conservative Party after the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. During Stefan Stambolov's government, he was a Bulgarian diplomatic deputy in Constantinople, where he was murdered by political opponents.

Georgi Valkovich was born in the Ottoman city of Adrianople in Eastern Thrace. His father was a member of the influential and affluent Cholakov family from Koprivshtitsa. Valkovich began his education in Plovdiv and graduated from the Academy of Military Medicine in Constantinople in 1857. After his graduation, he worked as a surgeon and as a reader at the Academy of Military Medicine in the imperial capital. Between 1860 and 1863, Valkovich resided in Paris, France as a post-graduate medical student. In 1865, he was briefly the chief physician of the Damascus Central Hospital. In 1870–1871, Valkovich headed the Haydarpaşa Hospital in Constantinople and by 1872, he was promoted to Colonel in the Ottoman Army.