Revolutionary Ivan Garkov

Ivan Nikolov Garkov was a member of the Bulgarian Volunteer Corps, born in 1841 in Kalishte village in the Kovachevtsi area.

In 1876, he joined Panayot Hitov's detachment and fought in the Serbo-Turkish War.

In 1877, during the Russo-Turkish War, Garkov went to Ploiești and enlisted in the Bulgarian Volunteer Corps. He was assigned to the Fourth Battalion under Major Pyotr Redkin and fought at Shipka, Sheynovo and Stara Zagora.

After the Liberation, he settled in Radomir, where he lived to the age of 105.

In 1986, a monument to the members of the Bulgarian Volunteer Corps, including Ivan Garkov, was erected in the centre of Kalishte village. A commemorative plaque was unveiled on his house in Radomir on 3 March 2005 in remembrance of his participation in the liberation movement and the Russo-Turkish War. The town's national holiday celebrations were attended by the poet Georgi Evdokiev, an honorary citizen of Radomir, and the journalist Simeon Idakiev, who was born there.