60-year-old career policeman Atanas Ilkov takes over the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the new caretaker government of Dimitar Glavchev. It was proposed by Glavchev and approved by President Rumen Radev.
Who is he?
The new minister is from Pazardzhik and is an old staff member of the Ministry of the Interior, but he left the system because of mistakes
However, the court returned it, bTV recalls.
A police officer for 37 years, in his first comment for bTV Atanas Ilkov said that he mainly relies on teamwork in the ministry.
„I take the post with the responsibility that together with the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs we will deal with the main priorities – to guarantee the fairness of elections and the security of citizens. The most important thing right now is that the employees in the system can work calmly to show the results they are capable of, Ilkov added.
He climbed the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in 2014 was the head of the Criminal Police.
Participated in the planning of the action of the berets in Lyaskovets against the barricaded and armed local resident Petko Petkov.
The operation ends with a shootout and the death of Beret Emil Sharkov.
A year later, after a series of investigations into the case, Ilkov was fired by the then Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov from the GERB government.
However, the court reinstated him and in 2016 he became the head of the Criminal Police again, but this time in Plovdiv.
After Plamen Uzunov became acting minister of President Rumen Radev in 2017, Ilkov took over his post as director of the Plovdiv police.
Two years later, the new Minister of the Interior was transferred to Kardzhali after an incident with an inmate.
At the time of Boyko Rashkov in the Ministry of the Interior, in August 2021 Atanas Ilkov was appointed deputy director of the National Police.
A year later, Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev made him director.
People saw it last year, when a comprehensive investigation began in the Ministry of Internal Affairs after the ill-fated match between Bulgaria and Hungary.
„In the event that certain officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are found to have exceeded their police powers, you must be convinced that the management will be uncompromising towards such officers,” Ilkov said at the time.
For almost three years now, Atanas Ilkov has been the director of the National Police and works with two regular and two caretaker governments.
While Kalin Stoyanov is the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ilkov is part of his team as director of the National Police.