Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari [ ˈmɑrtːi ˈɑhtisɑːri ] (born June 23, 1937 in Viipuri , Finland , today Vyborg, Russia ) is a Finnish, social democratic politician and diplomat . He served as the 10th President of the Republic of Finland from 1994 to 2000 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his long-term efforts to resolve international conflicts .
Life
Ahtisaari fled with his parents from the Soviet-occupied Viipuri to Kuopio during the Second World War . In 1952 the family moved northwest to Oulu , where Ahtisaari graduated from high school. After studying education , he became a primary school teacher and went to Pakistan in 1959 , where he worked as a junior teacher for the Swedish development aid organization Sida in the early 1960s . This was followed by studies at the Helsinki Business School , after which Ahtisaari entered the diplomatic service in 1965. From 1973 to 1979 he was ambassador to Tanzania , Zambia , Mozambique and Somalia . At the suggestion of SWAPO , Ahtisaari was UN commissioner for Namibia from 1977 to 1981 . Ahtisaari said in an interview in October 2008: “The work in Namibia meant most to me in my political life”.
In 1987 he was appointed Under-Secretary General of the UN for four years by UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar . There he was responsible for the administration of the United Nations.
After the ceasefire between South Africa and SWAPO came into force on April 1, 1989, he became the UN representative for Namibia as head of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG). Following the 105 years of foreign rule in Namibia, UNTAG monitored the independence process.
In 1992 and 1993 Ahtisaari was a key figure in the peace talks in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
In 1994 the Finns elected Ahtisaari in the first direct election for this office as President of the Republic of Finland. Ahtisaari ran as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party and succeeded Mauno Koivisto . His vision of Finland as an active participant in international affairs helped him to win the election. One year later, when his country joined the EU , he achieved one of his most important goals.
In 1999 he and the Russian chief negotiator Viktor Tschernomyrdin led the peace talks with Slobodan Milošević during the Kosovo war . When his term ended in 2000, he did not stand for re-election and was replaced by Tarja Halonen .
After leaving the presidency, Ahtisaari founded the organization Crisis Management Initiative (CMI). He was also entrusted with a number of diplomatic tasks. In 2000 he was a member of the so-called "council of three wise men" who on behalf of the EU , the Government bowl ÖVP-FPÖ had to investigate. He also worked as a weapons inspector in Northern Ireland and, on behalf of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, headed a delegation that was supposed to investigate the massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin .
Ahtisaari made major efforts to end the civil war in the Indonesian province of Aceh in 2005. From February 2006 he led the negotiations on the future status of the UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo and developed the so-called Ahtisaari Plan within the framework of this. In October 2007, Ahtisaari was a co-founder of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank .
In September 2007, Ahtisaari mediated the negotiations between Sunnis and Shiites in the Iraq conflict .
Ahtisaari is married to Eeva Ahtisaari (* 1936). They have a son, Marko Ahtisaari (* 1969).
Awards
Martti Ahtisaari received the following awards, among others:
- 1994: Order of the Elephants
- 1995: Order of the Falcons
- 1995: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
- 1997: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- 1997: Grand Cross of the Three Star Order
- 1998: Grand Cross with Collane of the Star of Romania
- 2000: Four Freedoms Award
- 2000: J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding
- 2000: Hessian Peace Prize
- 2007: Manfred Wörner Medal
- 2007: Honorary doctorate from the University of St. Gallen
- 2007: Félix Houphouët Boigny Peace Prize
- 2008: Nobel Peace Prize
- 2012: World Economic Prize
Works
- Tehtävä Belgradissa. WSOY, Helsinki 2000, ISBN 951-0-25072-4 .
Web links
- Curriculum vitae on the website of the Crisis Management Initiative founded by Ahtisaari (English)
- Information from the Nobel Foundation on the 2008 award ceremony for Martti Ahtisaari
- Seppo Tiihonen: The Finnish Presidency as an Institution ( Memento of July 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). 1999
- Literature by and about Martti Ahtisaari in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reinhard Wolff: The supposed loser . In: taz , October 11, 2008.
- ^ Frank Herold: NATO chance for diplomacy. Javier Solana reacts cautiously to the peace plan . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 3, 1999.
- ↑ Review 2000 from 8'43 ""
- ↑ cr.org
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ahtisaari, Martti |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Finnish diplomat and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 23, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vyborg |