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{{Short description|President of Finland from 1994 to 2000}} | |||
{{Infobox President|name= Martti Ahtisaari | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} | |||
|order=10th ] | |||
{{Infobox officeholder | |||
|nationality=Finnish | |||
| |
| name = Martti Ahtisaari | ||
| image = Martti Ahtisaari Mäntyniemessä (cropped).jpg | |||
|term_start=], ] | |||
| caption = Ahtisaari in 1994 | |||
|term_end=], ] | |||
| order = 10th | |||
|predecessor=] | |||
| office = President of Finland | |||
|successor=] | |||
| primeminister = {{ubl|]|]}} | |||
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1937|6|23}} | |||
| term_start = 1 March 1994 | |||
|birth_place=], ] | |||
| term_end = 1 March 2000 | |||
|spouse=] | |||
| predecessor = ] | |||
|party=] | |||
| successor = ] | |||
|languagesspoken= | |||
| office2 = Ambassador of Finland to Tanzania | |||
| term_start2 = 1973 | |||
| term_end2 = 1977 | |||
| predecessor2 = ] | |||
| successor2 = Richard Müller | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|6|23|df=y}} | |||
| birth_place = Viipuri, Finland {{awrap|(now ], Russia)}} | |||
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|10|16|1937|6|23|df=y}} | |||
| death_place = ], Finland | |||
| resting_place = ], Helsinki | |||
| party = ] | |||
| spouse = {{marriage|]|1968}} | |||
| children = ] | |||
| alma_mater = ] | |||
| awards = ] (2008) | |||
| signature = MarttiAhtisaariSignature.svg | |||
| branch = ] | |||
| rank = ] | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari''' ( |
'''Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari''' ({{IPA|fi|ˈmɑrtːi (ˈoi̯ʋɑ ˈkɑleʋi) ˈɑhtisɑːri|lang|fi-Martti_Ahtisaari.ogg}}, 23 June 1937 – 16 October 2023) was a Finnish politician, the tenth ], from 1994 to 2000, a ] laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and ] noted for his international ]. | ||
Ahtisaari was a United Nations special envoy for ], charged with organizing the ] negotiations. These negotiations aimed to resolve a long-running dispute in Kosovo, which later ] from ] in 2008. In October 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".<ref name="nobelprize1">{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2008/|title=The Nobel Peace Prize 2008|access-date=10 October 2008|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612211621/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2008/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari had played a prominent role in resolving serious and long-lasting conflicts, including ones in ], ] (Indonesia),<ref name=yle01> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617033349/https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/ahtisaari_tuomioja_haavisto_weigh_in_on_syria/6242393 |date=17 June 2021 }}, ''yle.fi'', 3 August 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.</ref> Kosovo and Serbia, and ].<ref>{{cite news|first=Lisa |last=Bryant |title=Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari Wins Nobel Peace Prize |date=10 October 2008 |publisher=Voice of America |url=http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-10/2008-10-10-voa8.cfm |access-date=27 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117162443/http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-10/2008-10-10-voa8.cfm |archive-date=17 November 2008 }}</ref> | |||
== Youth and early career == | == Youth and early career == | ||
] | |||
Martti Ahtisaari was born in ] (now ], ]) while his father, Oiva, was a non-commissioned officer in the service corps. ], whose grandfather had emigrated to Finland from southern ], took Finnish citizenship in ], changing his surname from Adolfsen in ]. The ] took Martti's father to the front as a military mechanic, while his mother, Tyyne, moved to ] with her son to escape immediate danger from the war. <ref name=geneologiafi> a study by Suomen Sukututkimusliitto (the Finnish genealogy society).</ref> Kuopio was where Ahtisaari spent most of his childhood and first attended school. | |||
Martti Ahtisaari was born in ], Finland (now Vyborg, Russia) on 23 June 1937.<ref name="britannica">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martti-Ahtisaari|title=Martti Ahtisaari|website=]|date=16 October 2023 |access-date=21 October 2023|archive-date=16 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016092113/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martti-Ahtisaari|url-status=live}}</ref> His father, Oiva Ahtisaari, whose grandfather Julius Marenius Adolfsen had emigrated with his parents to ], Finland in 1872 from ] in Southern Norway,<ref name="hbl">{{cite news|url=https://www.hbl.fi/artikel/2d16c2f6-9804-44f6-8aca-0e960c0f037b|title=Ahtisaari i födelsedagsintervju 2017: Det är inte de mest radikala som har folkets stöd|work=]|date=18 June 2017|language=sv|first=Jeannette|last=Björkqvist|access-date=21 October 2023|archive-date=13 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813090429/https://www.hbl.fi/artikel/2d16c2f6-9804-44f6-8aca-0e960c0f037b|url-status=live}}</ref> took ] ] in 1929 and ] his surname from Adolfsen in 1935.<ref name="kansalli">{{cite web|url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/634|title=Ahtisaari, Martti|website=] (The National Biography of Finland)|language=fi|access-date=21 October 2023|archive-date=21 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021045736/https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/634|url-status=live}}</ref> Oiva was working as a ] in the supply troops in Viipuri when Martti was born.<ref name=kansalli /> | |||
The ] (World War II) took Oiva Ahtisaari to the front as a non-commissioned officer army mechanic, while Martti's mother, Tyyne, moved to ] with her son to escape immediate danger from the war in 1940.<ref name="geneologiafi"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403003935/http://www.genealogia.fi/vsk/44/v8-28.pdf|date=3 April 2015}} a study by ] (the Finnish ] ]).</ref><ref name=kansalli /> Kuopio was where Ahtisaari spent most of his childhood,<ref name=Heikkinen2011>{{Cite web |title=Ahtisaari varttui Kuopion kasarmilla |last=Heikkinen |first=Martti |work=Helsingin Sanomat |date=6 August 2011 |access-date=23 August 2021 |url=https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000004821922.html |language=fi |archive-date=23 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823034652/https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000004821922.html |url-status=live }}</ref> eventually attending ] high school.<ref name=kansalli /> | |||
In ], Oiva moved to ] with his family for employment reasons. In Oulu, Martti joined the local ]. After he had done his military service, he began to study through a distance-learning course at the teachers' college in Oulu. There he was able to live at home while attending the two-year course which enabled him to qualify as a primary-school teacher in ]. | |||
In 1952, Martti Ahtisaari moved to ] with his family.<ref name=kansalli /> There he continued his education in ], graduating in 1956.<ref name=Heikkinen2011/> He also joined the local ].<ref name=kansalli /> After completing his military service (Ahtisaari held the rank of ] in the ] Reserve),<ref name="Turun Sanomat">{{cite news|url=https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/6133082|title=Valtakuntien sovittelija, presidentti Martti Ahtisaari on poissa|work=]|first=Ilari|last=Tapio|date=16 October 2023|language=fi|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=21 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021080610/https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/6133082|url-status=live}}</ref> he began to study at Oulu teachers' college, attending the two-year course which enabled him to qualify as a primary-school teacher in 1959.<ref name=kansalli /> | |||
In ], he moved to ], ], to lead the YMCA's physical education training establishment, where he was accustomed to a more international environment. As well as the managing of the students' home, the job involved training teachers, which in itself suited him well. He returned to Finland in ] and went to ] Polytechnic but also was active in the organizations responsible for aid to developing countries. In ], he joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of ] in its Bureau for International Development Aid, eventually becoming the assistant head of the department. In ], he married Eeva Irmeli Hyvärinen (]- ). | |||
In the summer of 1960, Ahtisaari signed the contract for the position of director of the Swedish Agency for International Development physical education boarding school in ], Pakistan, after interviewing in Sweden and hearing about the offer announced by the YMCA in April of that year.<ref name=kansalli /><ref name=britannica /> There, he also trained as a teacher.<ref name=kansalli /> | |||
== Diplomatic career == | |||
He returned to Finland in 1963 and began his studies in the ] and soon became the Executive Director of the Helsinki International Student Club and Student International Aid, where he made friends with Namibian ].<ref name=kansalli /> He also joined the international students' organisation ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aiesecusc.org/why-aiesec|title=Why AIESEC|website=AIESEC USC|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=24 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024002227/https://aiesecusc.org/why-aiesec|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1965, he joined the ]<ref name=britannica /> in its Bureau for International Development Aid, to set up the International Development Assistance Office together with Jaakko Iloniemi, which was a pioneering office, as the Finnish presence in international cooperation in the Third World was non-existent.<ref name="MFA">{{cite web|url=https://kehityslehti.fi/presidentti-martti-ahtisaari-oli-myos-kehityksen-uranuurtaja/|title=Presidentti Martti Ahtisaari oli myös kehityksen uranuurtaja|website=]|first=Erja-Outi|last=Heino|date=17 October 2023|language=fi|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=24 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024002232/https://kehityslehti.fi/presidentti-martti-ahtisaari-oli-myos-kehityksen-uranuurtaja/|url-status=live}}</ref> Ahtisaari remained in that office until 1972, where he served from 1971 as assistant to the director, a position he combined with his presence on the Government's Advisory Committee for Trade and Industry Affairs of Developing Countries.<ref name="cidob">{{cite web|url=https://www.cidob.org/en/biografias_lideres_politicos/europa/finlandia/martti_ahtisaari|title=Martti Ahtisaari|website=]|language=es}}</ref> | |||
In ], President ] appointed Ahtisaari as Finland's ambassador to ], and accredited him also to ], ] and ]. During his term (]-]) he formed contacts with the Namibian independence group ] in ]. In 1977, he was appointed ] Commissioner for ], based in ], and served until ]. However, ], which occupied ] (Namibia) in defiance of the ], refused to recognise Ahtisaari or any of his four predecessors as UN Commissioner for Namibia. He stayed at the UN, as Under Secretary-General for Administration and Management – first with ], and then with ]. | |||
== Diplomatic career== | |||
Following the death of the seventh UN Commissioner for Namibia, ], on ] on ], ] – on the eve of the signing of the Namibian independence agreement at UN headquarters – Ahtisaari was sent to ] in April 1989 as the UN Special Representative to head the ]'s (UNTAG) observer mission. Because of an alleged incursion of SWAPO troops from ], South African appointee Administrator-General, Louis Pienaar, sought Ahtisaari's agreement to the deployment of ] troops to stabilize the situation. Ahtisaari took advice from British prime minister, ], who was visiting the region at the time, and approved the SADF deployment. A period of intense fighting ensued when at least 375 SWAPO insurgents were killed.<ref>]</ref> | |||
] | |||
===In the Namibian independence transition=== | |||
Ahtisaari began his diplomatic career in 1973 when he became Finland's Ambassador to ], ], ] and ], an office he held until 1977.<ref name=cidob /><ref name=embtanzania>{{cite news |title=History of the Embassy of Finland, Dar es Salaam |url=http://www.finland.or.tz/public/default.aspx?nodeid=31642&contentlan=2&culture=en-US |work=Embassy of Finland, Dar es Salaam |access-date=26 June 2016 |archive-date=13 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813183825/http://www.finland.or.tz/public/default.aspx?nodeid=31642&contentlan=2&culture=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=kansalli /> This new mission allowed him to get closer to East African affairs, monitoring from ] the independence process of ] and maintaining close contacts with ] (SWAPO).<ref name=kansalli /> In 1977 he was recalled by the ] to succeed ] as ], a post he held until 1981, and as representative of Secretary-General ] from 1978.<ref name=britannica /><ref name=cidob /> | |||
Following the death of a later UN Commissioner for Namibia, ], on ] on 21 December 1988 – on the eve of the signing of the ] at ] – Ahtisaari was sent to ] in April 1989 as the ] to head the ] (UNTAG).<ref name=cidob /> Because of the illegal incursion of ] troops from ], the South African appointed Administrator-General (AG), ], sought Ahtisaari's agreement to the deployment of ] troops to stabilize the situation. Ahtisaari took advice from British prime minister ], who was visiting the region at the time, and approved the SADF deployment. A period of intense fighting ensued when at least 375 SWAPO insurgents were killed.<ref>]</ref> In July 1989, ] and ] of the ] visited Namibia and reported: "There is a widespread feeling that too many concessions were made to South African personnel and preferences and that Martti Ahtisaari was not forceful enough in his dealings with the South Africans."<ref>{{cite book | |||
Perhaps because of his reluctance to authorise this SADF deployment, Ahtisaari was alleged to have been targeted by the South African ] (CCB). According to a hearing in September 2000 of the South African ], two CCB operatives (Kobus le Roux and Ferdinand Barnard) were tasked not to kill Ahtisaari, but to give him "a good hiding". To carry out the assault, Barnard had planned to use the grip handle of a metal saw as a knuckleduster. In the event, Ahtisaari did not attend the meeting at the Keetmanshoop Hotel, where Le Roux and Barnard lay in wait for him, and thus escaped injury.<ref>] ]</ref> | |||
|title=Namibia: Birth of a Nation | |||
|author=Glenys Kinnock | |||
|publisher=Quartet Books Ltd | |||
|year=1990 | |||
|page=19 | |||
|author-link=Glenys Kinnock | |||
}}</ref> | |||
Perhaps because of his reluctance to authorise this ] deployment, Ahtisaari was alleged to have been targeted by the ]n ] (CCB). According to a hearing in September 2000 of the South African ], two CCB operatives (Kobus le Roux and Ferdinand Barnard) were tasked not to kill Ahtisaari, but to give him "a good hiding". To carry out the assault, Barnard had planned to use the grip handle of a metal saw as a knuckleduster. In the event, Ahtisaari did not attend the meeting at the Keetmanshoop Hotel, where Le Roux and Barnard lay in wait for him, and thus Ahtisaari escaped injury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.doj.gov.za./trc/amntrans/2000/200928ct.htm|title=On Resumption: 28th September 2000 – Day 17|access-date=22 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916171009/http://www.doj.gov.za./trc/amntrans/2000/200928ct.htm|archive-date=16 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
After the independence elections of 1989, Ahtisaari was appointed an honorary Namibian citizen. | |||
After the independence elections of 1989, Ahtisaari and his wife were made honorary Namibian citizens in 1992.<ref name=kansalli /> South Africa gave him the ] award for "his outstanding achievement as a diplomat and commitment to the cause of freedom in Africa and peace in the world".<ref name="tambo">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/orders_list.asp?show=226|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719021409/http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/orders_list.asp?show=226|url-status=dead|title=Outstanding achievement award|archive-date=19 July 2010}}</ref> | |||
== Presidency == | |||
Ahtisaari served as UN undersecretary-general for administration and management from 1987 to 1991 causing mixed feelings inside the organisation during an internal investigation of massive fraud. When Ahtisaari revealed in 1990 that he had secretly lengthened the grace period allowing UN officials to return misappropriated taxpayer money from the original three months to three years, the investigators were furious. The 340 officials found guilty of fraud were able to return money even after their crime had been proven. The harshest punishment was the firing of twenty corrupt officials.<ref name="Sainio">Sainio, Pentti: Operaatio Ahtisaari. Art House, 1993.</ref><ref>The Independent On Sunday, 1991 May 19.</ref><ref name=cmi>{{cite news |title=About Martti Ahtisaari |url=http://cmi.fi/martti-ahtisaari/about/ |work=CMI |access-date=18 December 2019 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220114735/http://cmi.fi/martti-ahtisaari/about/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=kansalli /> | |||
Ahtisaari's presidential campaign began when he was still a member of the council dealing with ]. ] in Finland had caused established political figures to lose public support, and the presidential elections were now direct, instead of being conducted through an ]. In ], Ahtisaari accepted the candidacy of the ]. His politically untarnished image was a major factor in the election, as was his vision of Finland as an active participant in international affairs. Ahtisaari narrowly won over his second round opponent, ] of the ]. | |||
===Other roles=== | |||
Ahtisaari began his term with a schism with the ]-led government, because Prime Minister ] did not approve of his wish to actively participate in foreign political affairs. There was also some controversy over Ahtisaari's speaking out on issues such as unemployment. His mannerism, wobbly walking and overweight were often ridiculed in the media. He traveled extensively over the country and abroad, and got the nickname "Matka-Mara" (''"Travel-Mara"''). His monthly travels to various towns in Finland and meetings with ordinary citizens (as called ''maakuntamatkat'') still made him very popular among people. | |||
On 31 July 1991, he was appointed Secretary of State at the ] in the ]'s government.<ref name=kansalli /><ref name=cidob /> After the ], Ahtisaari headed a team tasked with reporting to the UN on changes in the situation and humanitarian needs.<ref name=kansalli /><ref name=cidob /> The report did not meet these expectations and was believed to have eroded American support for Ahtisaari's candidacy for the UN Secretary-General.<ref name=kansalli /> | |||
Between 1992 and 1993, Ahtisaari chaired the UN Conference on Yugoslavia's Working Group on Bosnia and Herzegovina and became the special assistant to ], the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Croatia.<ref name=cidob /><ref name=kansalli /> | |||
President Ahtisaari also supported Finland's entry into the ], and in a referendum in 1994, 56% of the Finnish voters were in favour of EU membership. During Ahtisaari's term as President, ] and ] met in ]. He also negotiated alongside ] with ] to end the ] in the ] province of ] in ]. | |||
== President of Finland (1994–2000)== | |||
Often encountering resistance from Parliament, which preferred a more cautious foreign policy, as well as from his party, Ahtisaari did not seek re-election in 2000 and was followed by ], the first female President of ]. | |||
{{See also|1994 Finnish presidential election}} | |||
] | |||
] and his successor Martti Ahtisaari in 1994]] | |||
] | |||
] and ] in 1997]] | |||
] in 1997]] | |||
Finland's ongoing ] caused established political figures to lose public support, and the ] were now direct instead of being conducted through an electoral college.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Arter|first=David|date=1994|title=The 1994 Finnish presidential election: Honesty was not the best policy!|journal=West European Politics|volume=17|issue=4|pages=190–192|doi=10.1080/01402389408425049|issn=0140-2382}}</ref><ref name=kansalli /><ref name=cidob /> The ]'s candidate to succeed ] as President of Finland was decided in a primary between Ahtisaari and former Prime Minister and diplomat ]. Ahtisaari led in the polls against Sorsa, who was already a popular and experienced politician and won the primaries on 16 May 1993 with 61% of the votes.<ref name=cidob /><ref name=kansalli /> | |||
== Post-presidential career == | |||
Since leaving office, Ahtisaari has accepted positions in various international organizations. | |||
After the primaries, Ahtisaari returned to his work in Geneva, and did not start his presidential campaign until the end of October.<ref name=kansalli /> Ahtisaari narrowly won over his second round opponent, ] of the ].<ref name=cidob /> During the campaign, there were rumours spread by some political opponents of Ahtisaari that he had a drinking problem or that he had knowingly accepted a double salary from the Finnish Foreign Ministry and from the United Nations while trying to negotiate an end to the Bosnian War. Ahtisaari denied both allegations and no firm proof of them has emerged. During the three-week campaign between the two rounds of presidential elections, Ahtisaari was praised by his supporters for being more compassionate towards the many unemployed Finns than Rehn, who as Defence Minister had to officially support the Aho government's strict economic policies. A minor controversy arose during a town hall-style presidential debate in ], southeastern Finland when an apparently born-again Christian woman in the audience asked Rehn what her relationship with Jesus was. Rehn replied that she had personally no proof that Jesus had been a historical person. Ahtisaari ducked a precise answer by stating that he trusted the Lutheran confession even on this issue.<ref name="MMM1995">Mitä Missä Milloin — Kansalaisen vuosikirja 1995 ("What Where When — Citizen's Yearbook 1995"), Helsinki: Otava Publications Ltd., 1994.</ref><ref name="Snellman1994">Anja Snellman and Saska Saarikoski, "The Third Round" / Kolmas kierros, published in Finland in 1994.</ref><ref name="Sainio1993">Pertti Sainio, "Secret Operation Ahtisaari" / Operaatio Salainen Ahtisaari, published in Finland in 1993.</ref> He was sworn in on 1 March 1994.<ref name=cidob /> | |||
In ], the ] government appointed him to the team overseeing the inspections of ] weapons decommissioning in ]. Ahtisaari also founded ] (CMI), an independent, non-governmental organization with a goal in developing and sustaining peace in troubled areas. | |||
His term as president began with a schism within the ] government led by prime minister ], who did not approve of Ahtisaari's being actively involved in foreign policy. There was also some controversy over Ahtisaari's speaking out on domestic issues such as unemployment. He travelled extensively in Finland and abroad, and was nicknamed "Matka-Mara" (''"Travel-Mara"'', Mara being a common diminutive form of Martti). His monthly travels throughout the country and his meetings with ordinary citizens (the so-called ''maakuntamatkat'' or "provincial trips") nonetheless greatly enhanced his political popularity. Ahtisaari kept his campaign promise to visit one Finnish historical province every month during his presidency. He also donated some thousands of ]s per month to the unemployed people's organisations, and a few thousand Finnish marks to the Christian social organisation of the late lay preacher and social worker ].<ref>Mitä Missä Milloin — Kansalaisen vuosikirjat 1995, 2000, 2001 ("What Where When — Citizen's Yearbooks 1995, 2000, 2001")</ref><ref>Veikko Hursti, "For I Was Hungry ..." / Sillä minun oli nälkä ... (autobiography), published in Finland in 1997.</ref> | |||
On ] ], Ahtisaari was awarded the ] by the Fulbright Association in recognition of his work as peacemaker in some of the world’s most troubled areas. | |||
Ahtisaari favoured pluralism and religious tolerance publicly. Privately, he and his wife practised their Christian faith. Contrary to some of his predecessors and his successor as the Finnish President, Ahtisaari ended all of his New Year's speeches by wishing the Finnish people God's blessing.<ref>The speeches are available in electronic form from Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE's Living Archives, {{cite web|url=http://www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/ |title=Maaseudulta maailmalle -sarja kertoo vuosien 1956–1966 Suomesta |access-date=7 February 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210035359/http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/ |archive-date=10 February 2015}}</ref> | |||
In ], Ahtisaari successfully led peace negotiations between the ] and the ]n government through his non-governmental organization CMI. The negotiations ended on ] ] with a treaty on withdrawal of the armed Indonesian forces and dropped GAM demands for an independent ]. | |||
In January 1998 Ahtisaari was criticized by some NGOs, politicians and notable cultural figures because he awarded Commander of the ] to the Forest Minister of ] and to the main owner of the Indonesian RGM Company, a parent company of the April Company. The April Company was criticized by non-governmental organisations for destroying ]s, and Indonesia itself was criticized heavily for human rights violations, especially in ]. Ahtisaari's party chairman ] said that giving medals was questionable since he feared the act may tarnish the public image of Finnish human rights policy. Students of the arts had demonstrations in Helsinki against the decision to give medals.<ref>'']'', kotimaa, 1998 January 15, p. 1, "Mielenosoitus: Kunniamerkit takaisin Indonesiasta".</ref><ref>'']'', Talous, 2000 March 21, p. 3., "Ahtisaari saanee vastaehdokkaan UPM:n hallitus-vaaliin" (tässä jutussa on vain Luontoliiton osuus).</ref> | |||
In ] ], UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Ahtisaari as Special Envoy for the ] future status process. In this capacity, Ahtisaari was charged with leading a political process to determine Kosovo's political status, i.e., whether it should become independent or remain a part of ] (Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since the 1999 Kosovo War). In early 2006, Ahtisaari opened the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK) in Vienna, Austria, from which he would conduct the Kosovo status negotiations. | |||
President Ahtisaari publicly supported Finland's entry into the ], and in a 1994 ], 57 percent of Finnish voters were in favour of EU membership.<ref name="Turun Sanomat"/><ref name="MMM1996">Mitä Missä Milloin — Kansalaisen vuosikirja 1996 ("What Where When — Citizen's Yearbook 1996"), Helsinki: Otava Publications Ltd., 1995.</ref> He later stated that if Finland had not voted to join the EU he would have resigned.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yle.fi/uutiset/president_would_have_resigned_if_finland_had_vetoed_eu_membership/7806069|title=President would have resigned if Finland had vetoed EU membership|work=Yle Uutiset|date=14 February 2015|access-date=14 February 2015|archive-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217031328/http://yle.fi/uutiset/president_would_have_resigned_if_finland_had_vetoed_eu_membership/7806069|url-status=live}}</ref> The promotion of a European collective security system and Nordic cooperation, as well as a security policy without membership of NATO, were central to Ahtisaari's foreign policy.<ref name=kansalli /> | |||
In August 2006, Serbian government officials alleged that Ahtisaari had made remarks during talks in Vienna in early August about the "collective guilt" of the Serb nation for the alleged crimes of the Serbia of the Milošević era.<ref name=NYTimessept></ref> Members of the Serbian negotiating team claimed Ahtisaari had made remarks such as ''The ] are guilty as a people'' and ''Serbia is sabre-rattling''{{Fact|date=February 2007}}, also claiming these remarks were the spark for public disorders in the province of Kosovo. Both the UN and Ahtisaari have disputed the claims as being misinterpreted or taken out of context. The Serbian criticism has had little echo internationally, as a joint statement by the ], ], ], ], ], and ] was issued in New York on 20 September 2006 expressing deep appreciation for Ahtisaari's efforts as UN Special Envoy. <ref name=helsinginsanomat22092006>{{fi icon}} </ref>. | |||
During Ahtisaari's term as president, ] and ] met in ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Huippukokous päättyi yhteisymmärrykseen viidestä turvallisuusjulistuksesta Clinton ja Jeltsin aikovat tiivistää Naton ja Venäjän yhteistyötä Presidentti Clinton lähti illalla kotimatkalle |last=Huhta |first=Kari |work=Helsingin Sanomat |date=22 March 1997 |access-date=23 August 2021 |url=https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003609901.html |language=fi |archive-date=23 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823034654/https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003609901.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He also negotiated alongside ] with ] to end the ] in the ] province of ] in 1999.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Huhta |first=Kari |title=Tshernomyrdin yksin Helsingistä Belgradiin |newspaper=Helsingin Sanomat |date=20 May 1999 |access-date=23 August 2021 |url=https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003800968.html |language=fi |page=C1 |archive-date=23 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823034640/https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003800968.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
==False allegations== | |||
During Ahtisaari's work as a mediator in Kosovo, many rumors and accusations have been spread about him due to the unpopularity of the process to determine the future of Kosovo. Although the following claims have received a wide media publicity they are false. | |||
Ahtisaari's lack of restrained involvement in public affairs and his pronouncements on domestic and economic policy provoked reservations both in Parliament itself and in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and led Ahtisaari not to stand for re-election in ], which was announced in April 1999, and also alleged that two members of the SDP also ran as candidates.<ref name=cidob /><ref name="Turun Sanomat"/> Ahtisaari was the last "strong president", before the ] reduced the president's powers. He was succeeded by ] on 1 March 2000.<ref name=cidob /> | |||
===Father's origins=== | |||
One of the persistent false rumours is that Ahtisaari's father would have been an ]-officer in the ]. ] a self-proclaimed Serbian historian who usually writes on a pro-Serb bias is the first who mentioned this in his blog, without providing any sources whatsoever. The story was then picked up by the Serbian media, and widely publicized papers such as controversial tabloid ] ran it on their first page.<!-- sourced to the same source as the following paragraph, except claim of rumours origin which can be read in savich's blog --> | |||
== Post-presidential life == | |||
The credibility of the claim is clearly weakened by the fact that the ] only accepted young men of the age 17-23, while Martti Ahtisaari's father at the time of enlistment was 33 years old. It is further weakened by the fact that records of Finnish SS volunteers do not contain either the name Ahtisaari or Adolfsen (as Ahtisaari's father was called before 1935). One of those records is Historian Mauno Jokipii's book "Panttipataljoona".<ref name=hsOAhtisaari>] - </ref> In fact records from the Finnish defence forces shows Oiva Ahtisaari was at that point in time servicing the Finnish defense forces as a mechanic.<ref name=geneologiafi/> | |||
] with U.S. and Russian defence ministers in 1999]] | |||
] in 2000]] | |||
In Finnish politics, Ahtisaari long stressed how important it is for ].<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229203753/http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2008/10/martti_ahtisaari_wants_finland_in_nato_355246.html |date=29 February 2012}}. YLE. 11 October 2008</ref> Ahtisaari argued that Finland should be a full member of NATO and the EU in order "to shrug off once and for all the burden of ]".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20031215IE6|title=Former President Ahtisaari: NATO membership would put an end to Finlandisation murmurs|work=Helsingin Sanomat|date=15 December 2003|access-date=20 September 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205075236/http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20031215IE6|archive-date=5 December 2008}}</ref> He believed politicians should file application and make Finland a member. He said that the way Finnish politicians avoided expressing their opinions was disturbing.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723185206/http://www.mobioutlet.com/uutiset/arkisto.shtml/arkistot/kotimaa/2003/11/194916 |date=23 July 2009 }}. MTV3</ref> He also noted that the so-called "NATO option" (acquiring membership if Finland were to be threatened) was an illusion, making an analogy to trying to obtain fire insurance when the fire has already started.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jyu.fi/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2007/11/tiedote-2007-11-23-19-56-06-561120/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804194006/http://www.jyu.fi/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2007/11/tiedote-2007-11-23-19-56-06-561120/|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 August 2012|title=Presidentti Martti Ahtisaari 23.11.2007: Nato-optio on illuusio}}</ref> Finland joined NATO on 4 April 2023, while Ahtisaari was still alive.<ref>{{cite web |title=Finland joins NATO as 31st Ally |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm |website=nato.int |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404142906/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
After leaving office, Ahtisaari held positions in various international organisations. In 2000, he became Chairman of the Brussels-based ],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barbara Crossette |title=Peace Prize Comes With Criticism |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/peace-prize-comes-criticism/ |access-date=5 April 2019 |work=] |date=1 December 2008 |quote=After his term as president of Finland ended in 2000, Ahtisaari became board chairman of the International Crisis Group, an independent analysis and advocacy organization based in Brussels. |archive-date=6 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406182424/https://www.thenation.com/article/peace-prize-comes-criticism/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> an NGO to which he committed $100,000 in government funding in 1994 one month after becoming elected President of Finland.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Stephen Solarz |title=1995–2010 Fifteen Years on the Front Lines – International Crisis Group |date=2010 |publisher=ICG |page=12 |chapter-url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/misc/crisisgroup-15years.ashx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307075754/https://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/misc/crisisgroup-15years.ashx |archive-date=7 March 2013 |chapter=Transforming an Idea into Reality |quote=Martti Ahtisaari, had just been elected President of Finland a month earlier. When I explained to Martti what we had in mind, he immediately and graciously offered to provide $100,000 in funding from Finland|author1-link=Stephen Solarz }}</ref> He remained Chairman Emeritus.<ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees |url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/who-we-are/board |website=International Crisis Group |date=22 July 2016 |publisher=ICG |access-date=5 April 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190405175523/https://www.crisisgroup.org/who-we-are/board |archive-date=5 April 2019 |quote=Chairmen Emeriti – Martti Ahtisaari}}</ref> | |||
===Threats against civilian population=== | |||
It has also been falsely claimed that during talks with ] in ] Ahtisaari made a gesture and comment indicating that unless Milosevic was to comply, NATO and ] would bomb Belgrade so intensively that 500,000 civilians would die. As Ahtisaari would not have had any such authority from either the UN or NATO this is a claim that most international journalists discounted as a story spread out by the governing regime in order to explain having to come to terms with NATO demands.<ref name=reliefweb></ref> | |||
Ahtisaari also founded the independent ] (CMI) with the goal of developing and sustaining peace in troubled areas. On 1 December 2000, Ahtisaari was awarded the ] by the ] in recognition of his work as a peacemaker in some of the world's most troubled areas. In May 2017 Ahtisaari suggested as new CMI leader ] a Finnish politician representing Finnish conservatives i.e. the ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509151400/http://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9603162 |date=9 May 2017 }} YLE 9 May 2017</ref> | |||
==Current allegations== | |||
In 2000–01, Ahtisaari and ] inspected ] weapons dumps for the ], as part of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/decommission/iicdreports.htm#wi|title=Reports of the Weapons Inspectors|work=Reports and Statements by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD)|publisher=]|access-date=11 October 2008|archive-date=6 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206185315/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/decommission/iicdreports.htm#wi|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
===Martti Ahtisaari Bribed=== | |||
As of the 23rd June 2007, several news sources have been mentioning that the German Foreign intelligence service , the ] had issued a statement to the UN Secretary general of the UN, ], saying they had evidence to suggest that Martti Ahtisaari had been paid euro 40,000,000 by the ] ] leaders in return for him recommending ]s independence. As it stands, ] and ] are awaiting further evidence before they issue any official statements.<ref>]: </ref><ref>]: </ref> | |||
In 2003 Ahtisaari defended ]'s ], describing it as humanitarian intervention, which incited criticism from professor of history ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oikeutettu Sota? |url=http://arkisto.vihrealanka.fi/2003/33/kolumni.html |date=2003 |access-date=28 October 2015 |website=Vihreä Lanka |language=fi |archive-date=10 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510062004/http://arkisto.vihrealanka.fi/2003/33/kolumni.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
== Trivia == | |||
<!--In 2005, Ahtisaari successfully led peace negotiations between the ] (GAM) and the ]n government through his non-governmental organization CMI. The negotiations ended on 15 August 2005 with the signing of the on disarmament of GAM rebels, the dropping of GAM demands for an independent ], and a withdrawal of Indonesian forces.--> | |||
*Ahtisaari's initials spell MOKA, which is a Finnish ] word meaning "screw-up". This was jocularly used by people opposed to his election as president. | |||
*Martti Ahtisaari holds the rank of ¨] in the ] Reserve | |||
*Martti's son ] is a noted musician and technology producer in Finland. | |||
*Besides his native language he speaks ], ], ], and ]. | |||
] signed in Helsinki, 2005]] | |||
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In November 2005, ] ] appointed Ahtisaari as Special Envoy for the ] which was to determine whether Kosovo, having been administered by the United Nations since 1999, should become independent or remain a province of ]. In early 2006, Ahtisaari opened the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK) in ], Austria, from where he conducted the Kosovo status negotiations. Those opposed to Ahtisaari's settlement proposal, which involved an internationally monitored independence for Kosovo, sought to discredit him. Allegations made by Balkan media sources of corruption and improper conduct by Ahtisaari were described by ] spokesman Tom Casey as "spurious", adding that Ahtisaari's plan is the "best solution possible" and has the "full endorsement of the United States".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2007/jul/88362.htm|title=Daily Press Briefing – July 13|first=Bureau of Public Affairs|last=Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information|date=13 July 2007|website=2001-2009.state.gov|access-date=25 May 2019|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803213413/https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2007/jul/88362.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> '']'' suggested that this criticism of Ahtisaari on the part of the Serbs had led to the "bogging down" of the Kosovo status talks.<ref name=NYTimessept> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104172215/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/world/europe/02kosovo.html?ex=1158984000&en=d4d08af1a6c4944b&ei=5070 |date=4 January 2016 }}.</ref> In November 2008, Serbian media reported Pierre Mirel, director of the EU enlargement commission's western Balkans division as saying: "The EU has accepted that the deployment of ] has to be approved by the ], and that the mission has to be neutral and will not be related to the Ahtisaari plan," Mirel said, following his meeting with Serbia's vice-president ].<ref>{{cite web | |||
{{succession box|title=]|before=]|years=1994–2000|after=]}} | |||
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{{FinnishPresidents}} | |||
In July 2007, however, when the ], Russia and the United States agreed to find a new format for the talks, Ahtisaari announced that he regarded his mission as over. Since neither the UN nor the troika had asked him to continue mediations in the face of Russia's persistent refusal to support independence for Kosovo, he said he would nonetheless be willing to take on "a role as consultant", if requested.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2706414,00.html|title=Contact Group Meets on Kosovo′s Future as Tensions Rise – Europe – DW.COM – 25.07.2007|work=DW.COM|access-date=23 August 2007|archive-date=18 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218033447/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2706414,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After a period of uncertainty and mounting tension, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-02-voa66.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803222222/http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-02-voa66.cfm|url-status=dead|title=US Pleased With Post-Independence Progress in Kosovo|archive-date=3 August 2008}}</ref> | |||
In his work, he emphasised the importance of the United States in the peace process, stating that "There can be no peace without America."<ref>{{cite book|last=Cord|first=David J.|title=Mohamed 2.0|title-link=Mohamed 2.0: Disruption Manifesto|publisher=]|year=2012|isbn=978-951-52-2898-7|location=Helsingfors|pages=156}}</ref> | |||
Ahtisaari was chairman of the ] Governing Council from 2000 to 2009.<ref>John A. Kufuor Foundation {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228071829/http://johnakufuorfoundation.org/interpeace.html |date=28 December 2011 }} Retrieved on 27 January 2012</ref><ref>IDRC Retrieved on 3 February 2012</ref><ref>Imagine Nations {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305220603/http://www.imaginenations.org/bios/martti_ahtisaari.aspx |date=5 March 2012 }} Retrieved on 3 February 2012</ref> | |||
Beginning in 2009, Ahtisaari was Chairman Emeritus and a Special Advisor.<ref>Interpeace {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401160743/http://www.interpeace.org/index.php/about-us/governing-council |date=1 April 2015 }} Retrieved on 27 January 2012</ref> | |||
Ahtisaari was board director of the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=President Martti Ahtisaari {{!}} Leadership Team |publisher=ImagineNations Group |access-date=23 August 2021 |url=http://www.imaginenations.org/bios/directors/president-martti-ahtisaari |archive-date=23 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823034703/http://www.imaginenations.org/bios/directors/president-martti-ahtisaari |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
<!--In 2008 Ahtisaari was awarded an honorary degree by ].--> | |||
That same year he received the 2007 ] ], for "his lifetime contribution to world peace".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.valtioneuvosto.fi/ajankohtaista/tiedotteet/tiedote/en.jsp?toid=2213&c=0&moid=2217&oid=240323|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610202356/http://www.valtioneuvosto.fi/ajankohtaista/tiedotteet/tiedote/en.jsp?toid=2213&c=0&moid=2217&oid=240323|url-status=dead|title=Valtioneuvosto – Ahtisaari received the UNESCO Peace Prize|archive-date=10 June 2011}}</ref> | |||
In September 2009 Ahtisaari joined ],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://theelders.org/article/martti-ahtisaari-joins-elders |title=Martti Ahtisaari joins The Elders |publisher=TheElders.org |date=21 September 2009 |access-date=6 March 2013 |archive-date=24 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824114554/https://theelders.org/article/martti-ahtisaari-joins-elders |url-status=dead }}</ref> a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues. He travelled to the ] with fellow Elders ], ] and ] in April 2011,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/27/north.korea.elders.visit/index.html |title=Carter, 3 other ex-leaders to push for renewed Koreas talks |publisher=CNN.com |date=27 April 2011 |access-date=6 March 2013 |archive-date=6 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506084722/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/27/north.korea.elders.visit/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and to ] with Robinson and Archbishop ] in July 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theelders.org/article/elders-visit-south-sudan-sombre-mood-and-urge-continued-dialogue-khartoum |title=The Elders visit South Sudan in sombre mood and urge continued dialogue with Khartoum |publisher=TheElders.org |date=6 July 2012 |access-date=6 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118160808/https://www.theelders.org/article/elders-visit-south-sudan-sombre-mood-and-urge-continued-dialogue-khartoum |archive-date=18 November 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
<!--Ahtisaari was a member of the ]'s ] Committee.--> | |||
He was also a member of the board of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecfr.eu/|title=European Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=19 September 2010|archive-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314211756/http://www.ecfr.eu/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
=== Syria conflict === | |||
], ], and ] from The Elders group in London, 24 July 2013]] | |||
In August 2012, Ahtisaari opined on the sectarian violence in ]<ref name=yle01/> and was mentioned as a possible replacement as Joint Envoy there to succeed former ] ].<ref>, transcript of UK Ambassador Sir ]'s remarks at the 'stakeout' after adoption of the resolution, British UN Mission website, 3 August 2012. Ahtisaari's name only mentioned in a media question. No comment from Grant. Retrieved 3 August 2012.</ref><ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611020432/http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/whos-crazy-enough-to-take-on-syria/ |date=11 June 2015 }}, The New York ''Times'', 3 August 2012. Posted 3 August 2012.</ref> However, Ahtisaari then told the Finnish state broadcaster ] that "he wished the mission would fall on someone else"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://yle.fi/uutiset/ahtisaari_syyria-tehtavasta_toivoisin_etta_se_menisi_jonnekin_muualle/6248657|title=Ahtisaari Syyria-tehtävästä: Toivoisin, että se menisi jonnekin muualle|date=8 August 2012|work=YLE Uutiset|language=fi|access-date=11 August 2012|archive-date=9 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809163658/http://yle.fi/uutiset/ahtisaari_syyria-tehtavasta_toivoisin_etta_se_menisi_jonnekin_muualle/6248657|url-status=live}}</ref> which it ultimately did in the person of ], a former ]n foreign minister and longtime U.N. diplomat.<ref>, AP via New York ''Daily News'', 17 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.</ref> | |||
In late 2015, Martti Ahtisaari reiterated charges he already had made in an interview with German broadcaster ] in early 2013 against members of the ] on the obstruction of a political solution to the escalating conflict in Syria.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419213528/http://www.dw.com/de/ahtisaari-sicherheitsrat-ist-schuld/a-16577293 |date=19 April 2016 }}, dw.com, 11 February 2013 (in German)</ref> Ahtisaari said in an interview in September 2015 that he held talks about Syria with envoys from the five permanent members of the ] in February 2012. According to Ahtisaari, ], Russian ambassador to the ], laid out three points during a meeting with him, which included not arming the Syrian opposition, commencing talks between Syrian president ] and the opposition and finding "an elegant way for Assad to step aside". But the US, Britain and France subsequently ignored the proposal. Ahtisaari said in the interview: "Nothing happened because I think all these, and many others, were convinced that Assad would be thrown out of office in a few weeks so there was no need to do anything."<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008083307/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/west-ignored-russian-offer-in-2012-to-have-syrias-assad-step-aside |date=8 October 2016 }}, theguardian.com, 15 September 2015</ref> | |||
==Personal life, health and death== | |||
] (second from left), 1994]] | |||
]]] | |||
In 1968, he married ],<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.tpk.fi/ahtisaari/fin/henkilot/eeva_ahtisaari.cv.html. | title=Eeva Ahtisaari | access-date=10 October 2008 | archive-date=21 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021110240/https://www.presidentti.fi/ahtisaari/fin/henkilot/eeva_ahtisaari.cv.html | url-status=live }}</ref> who was studying history at the University of Helsinki and whom he met as a child at the Lyceum in Kuopio. They had one son, ], who was born in 1969.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kotimaa/ahtisaari/?shared=1102376-57b0a4ba-1|title=Martti Ahtisaarelle rauha oli tahdon asia|work=]|first=Katri|last=Merikallio|date=16 October 2023|language=fi|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=24 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024002232/https://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kotimaa/ahtisaari/?shared=1102376-57b0a4ba-1|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
On 24 March 2020, amid the ] of ], it was announced that Ahtisaari had tested positive for the disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/former_president_martti_ahtisaari_tests_positive_for_coronavirus/11272561|title=Former President Martti Ahtisaari tests positive for coronavirus|publisher=Yle News|date=24 March 2020|access-date=24 March 2020|archive-date=25 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325065129/https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/former_president_martti_ahtisaari_tests_positive_for_coronavirus/11272561|url-status=live}}</ref> His spouse, Eeva Ahtisaari, was diagnosed with the same virus on 21 March. Eeva Ahtisaari had attended the ] concert on 8 March at the ] while infected.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2020/03/21/eeva-ahtisaari-har-smittats-av-coronaviruset|title=Eeva Ahtisaari har smittats av coronaviruset|first=Maria|last=von Kraemer|publisher=Yle Svenska|date=21 March 2020|access-date=24 March 2020|language=sv|archive-date=22 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322131853/https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2020/03/21/eeva-ahtisaari-har-smittats-av-coronaviruset|url-status=live}}</ref> On 14 April 2020 it was announced that Martti and Eeva Ahtisaari were recovering from the coronavirus infection.<ref>Uusitalo, Kaisa: {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414215008/https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11304648 |date=14 April 2020 }}, ] 14 April 2020. Accessed on 16 April 2020.</ref> | |||
On 2 September 2021, it was announced that Ahtisaari had ] and had retired from public life.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/former_president_ahtisaari_retires_from_public_life_following_alzheimers_diagnosis/12083327|title=Former President Ahtisaari retires from public life following Alzheimer's diagnosis|publisher=Yle News|date=2 September 2021|access-date=2 September 2021|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902133709/https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/former_president_ahtisaari_retires_from_public_life_following_alzheimers_diagnosis/12083327|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Ahtisaari died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in Helsinki, on 16 October 2023, at age 86.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Anne Kauranen|date=16 October 2023|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finnish-nobel-peace-laureate-ahtisaari-dies-86-2023-10-16/|title=Finnish Nobel Peace laureate and former president Ahtisaari dies at 86|work=Reuters|access-date=16 October 2023|archive-date=16 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016080243/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finnish-nobel-peace-laureate-ahtisaari-dies-86-2023-10-16/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/world/europe/martti-ahtisaari-dead.html|title = Martti Ahtisaari, Finnish Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dies at 86|last = Cowell|first = Alan|date = 16 October 2023|accessdate = 16 October 2023|newspaper = ]|url-access = limited|archive-date = 16 October 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231016140410/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/world/europe/martti-ahtisaari-dead.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Martti Ahtisaari obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/martti-ahtisaari-obituary-nkpkgnrrx |access-date=18 October 2023 |work=The Times |date=18 October 2023 |archive-date=19 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019164120/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/martti-ahtisaari-obituary-nkpkgnrrx |url-status=live }}</ref> ] was held on 10 November 2023 in ] at 1 p.m., after which he was buried at the ] in Helsinki.<ref name="state-funeral">{{cite web|url=https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/10616/state-funeral-of-president-martti-ahtisaari-to-be-held-in-helsinki-on-st-martin-s-day-10-november|title=State funeral of President Martti Ahtisaari to be held in Helsinki on St Martin's Day, 10 November|publisher=]|date=18 October 2023|access-date=18 October 2023|archive-date=18 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018092129/https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/10616/state-funeral-of-president-martti-ahtisaari-to-be-held-in-helsinki-on-st-martin-s-day-10-november|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://yle.fi/a/74-20055779|title=Presidentti Ahtisaaren valtiolliset hautajaiset pidetään Martin päivänä 10. marraskuuta|first=Tuomas|last=Hyttinen|work=]|date=18 October 2023|access-date=18 October 2023|language=fi|archive-date=18 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018073255/https://yle.fi/a/74-20055779|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
== Honours == | |||
=== Nobel Peace Prize === | |||
] | |||
On 10 October 2008, Ahtisaari was announced as that year's recipient of the ]. Ahtisaari received the prize on 10 December 2008 at ] in Norway.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony 2008 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/the-nobel-peace-prize-award-ceremony-2008/ |access-date=24 October 2023 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026041324/https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/the-nobel-peace-prize-award-ceremony-2008/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Ahtisaari twice worked to find a solution in ] – first in 1999 and again between 2005 and 2007. The committee said he also worked with others this year to find a peaceful solution to the problems in ]. According to the committee, Ahtisaari and his group, ] (CMI), also contributed to resolving other conflicts in ], ], and the ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Ahtisaari finally wins his own Nobel Peace Prize|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2705432.ece|publisher=]|date=10 October 2008|access-date=13 October 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013034345/http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2705432.ece|archive-date=13 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Nobel Peace Prize goes to peace broker Ahtisaari|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2704892.ece|publisher=Aftenposten|date=10 October 2008|access-date=13 October 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010211922/http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2704892.ece|archive-date=10 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Nobel Peace Prize 2008 awarded to Martti Ahtisaari |url=http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=201245 |agency=]/TNC |work=The Norway Post|date=10 October 2008 |access-date=13 October 2008 }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> Ahtisaari invited Prime Minister ], Foreign Affairs Minister ] and others to his Nobel event, but not President Halonen.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020060350/http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Presidentti%2BHalosta%2Bei%2Bkutsuttu%2BAhtisaaren%2BNobel-juhliin/1135241949683 |date=20 October 2012 }}. Helsingin Sanomat</ref> | |||
According to the memoir of the former secretary of the ], ], former Foreign Minister and UN ambassador ], who was strongly against awarding the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize to Ahtisaari, wrote a letter to the committee which negatively portrayed Ahtisaari as a person and his merits in international conflict zones.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.verkkouutiset.fi/kotimaa/ahtisaari%20lundestad-41035|title=Norjalaiskirja paljastaa: Keijo Korhonen yritti estää Martti Ahtisaaren Nobel-palkinnon|date=18 September 2015|publisher=Verkkouutiset|access-date=18 September 2015|archive-date=20 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920232031/http://www.verkkouutiset.fi/kotimaa/ahtisaari%20lundestad-41035|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Infobox coat of arms | |||
|name = Coat of Arms of Martti Ahtisaari | |||
|image = Martti Ahtisaari Coat of Arms.svg | |||
|alt = | |||
|image_width = 140 | |||
|middle = | |||
|middle_width =90 | |||
|middle_caption = | |||
|lesser = | |||
|lesser_alt = | |||
|lesser_width =45 | |||
|lesser_caption = Coat of arms | |||
|image2 = | |||
|image2_alt = | |||
|image2_width = | |||
|image2_caption = | |||
|image3 = | |||
|image3_alt = | |||
|image3_width = | |||
|image3_caption = | |||
|armiger = Martti Ahtisaari | |||
|year_adopted =1994 | |||
|crest = | |||
|torse = | |||
|shield = | |||
|supporters = | |||
|compartment = | |||
|motto = ''Se pystyy ken uskaltaa'' ("The one who dares, can") | |||
|orders = | |||
|other_elements = | |||
|earlier_versions = | |||
|use = | |||
|notes = | |||
}} | |||
===National honours=== | |||
* {{flag|Finland}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross with Collar of the ] (1999) | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
**] ] | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ]<ref>{{cite news|title=Pyhän Karitsan suurristi Ahtisaarelle|newspaper=Helsingin Sanomat|date=22 February 1995|page=A 4|url=https://nakoislehti.hs.fi/b9d42152-fa40-4c06-bbb6-5f78ddf8fd2a/4|language=fi|access-date=17 May 2023|archive-date=17 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517162627/https://nakoislehti.hs.fi/b9d42152-fa40-4c06-bbb6-5f78ddf8fd2a/4|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
===Foreign honours=== | |||
*{{flag|Albania}}: | |||
**] ] (12 September 2016)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dekorata e flamurit kombëtar|url=https://president.al/en/dekorimet/dekorata-e-flamurit-kombetar-5/|access-date=11 November 2020|website=Presidenti i Republikës së Shqipërisë|language=en-US|archive-date=11 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111114251/https://president.al/en/dekorimet/dekorata-e-flamurit-kombetar-5/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|Australia}}: | |||
**] Honorary Officer of the ] (2002) | |||
*{{flag|Argentina}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross with Collar of the ] (3 March 1997)<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 March 1997 |title=Menem recibió al primer mandatario de Finlandia |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/menem-recibio-al-primer-mandatario-de-finlandia-nid64625/ |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=LA NACION |language=es |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016170544/https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/menem-recibio-al-primer-mandatario-de-finlandia-nid64625/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* {{Flag|Belgium}}: | |||
**] Grand Cordon of the ] | |||
* {{Flag|Brazil}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
*{{flag|Chile}}: | |||
**] Collar of the ] | |||
* {{flag|Denmark}}: | |||
**] Knight of the ] (1994) | |||
**] Knight of the ]{{cn|date=June 2023}} | |||
*{{flag|Estonia}}: | |||
**] Collar of the ]<ref>Estonian Presidency Website (''Estonian''), Estonian State Decorations, {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606061432/http://www.president.ee/en/estonia/decorations/bearers.php?id=1 |date=6 June 2013 }} – {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606180739/http://www.president.ee/en/estonia/decorations/bearers.php?id=2 |date=6 June 2013 }}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|France}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
*{{flag|Germany}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross Special Class of the ] | |||
* {{Flag|Greece}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
*{{flag|Hungary}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
* {{Flag|Iceland}}: | |||
**] Collar with Grand Cross of the ] (26 September 1995)<ref>Icelandic Presidency Website (''Icelandic''), Order of the Falcon, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313042402/http://falkadb.forseti.is/orduskra/fal03.php?term=Ahtisaari%2C%20&sub=Leita |date=13 March 2016 }}, 26 September 1995, Grand Cross with Collar & Grand Cross respectively</ref> | |||
* {{Flag|Indonesia}}: | |||
**] Third Class of the ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antaranews.com/print/40353/presiden-anugerahkan-bintang-utama-kepada-ahtisaari|title=Presiden Anugerahkan Bintang Utama Kepada Ahtisaari|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404113734/http://www.antaranews.com/print/40353/presiden-anugerahkan-bintang-utama-kepada-ahtisaari|archive-date=4 April 2015}}</ref> | |||
* {{flag|Italy}}: | |||
**] Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the ] (1997) | |||
*{{flag|Kuwait}}: | |||
**] Grand Cordon of the ] | |||
*{{flag|Latvia}}: | |||
**] Commander Grand Cross of the ]: | |||
*{{flag|Lithuania}} | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] (1996)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Apdovanotų asmenų duomenų bazė |url=https://www.lrp.lt/lt/prezidento-veikla/apdovanojimai/apdovanotu-asmenu-duomenu-baze/27252?sqid=324dedfb248c97cabdd7276c05a297f53c0e3f18 |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidento kanceliarija |language=lt}}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|Malaysia}}: | |||
**] Honorary Recipient of the Most Exalted ] (1995)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.istiadat.gov.my/index.php/component/semakanlantikanskp/|title=Bahagian Istiadat dan Urusetia Persidangan Antarabangsa|website=istiadat.gov.my|access-date=15 June 2016|archive-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719195551/http://www.istiadat.gov.my/index.php/component/semakanlantikanskp|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|Mexico}}: | |||
**] Collar of the ] (1999)<ref>{{Cite web |title=ACUERDO por el que se otorga al excelentísimo señor Martti Ahtisaari, la Condecoración Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca, en grado de Gran Collar. |url=https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=4944072&fecha=19/02/1999#gsc.tab=0 |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=Diario Oficial de la Federación |language=es |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016170546/https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=4944072&fecha=19#gsc.tab=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|Netherlands}}: | |||
**] Knight Grand Cross of the ] | |||
* {{flag|Norway}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross with Collar of the ] (1994) | |||
* {{flag|Poland}}: | |||
**] Knight of the ] (1997)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pokojowy Nobel dla mistrza mediacji |url=https://www.rp.pl/nauka/art15998321-pokojowy-nobel-dla-mistrza-mediacji |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=Rzeczpospolita |language=pl |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016170544/https://www.rp.pl/nauka/art15998321-pokojowy-nobel-dla-mistrza-mediacji |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* {{flag|Romania}}: | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] | |||
* {{flag|South Africa}}: | |||
**] Supreme Companion of the ] (16 June 2004) | |||
**] Grand Cross of the ] (1997)<ref name="Nat1997">{{Cite web|url=http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/recipients/1997.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015131848/http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/recipients/1997.htm|url-status=dead|title=1997 National Orders awards|archive-date=15 October 2012}}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|Spain}}: | |||
**] Knight of the Collar of the ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=BOE-A-1999-2504 Real Decreto 174/1999, de 29 de enero, por el que se concede el Collar de la Orden de Isabel la Católica a su excelencia señor Martti Ahtisaari, Presidente de la República de Finlandia. |url=https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1999-2504 |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=BOE |archive-date=17 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017235320/https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1999-2504 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* {{flag|Sweden}}: | |||
**] Knight with Collar (1996) of the ] (1994)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2283/ahtisaariuu8.png |title=Archived copy |access-date=2 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112115519/http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2283/ahtisaariuu8.png |archive-date=12 November 2013}}</ref> | |||
*{{flag|Turkey}}: | |||
**] First Class of the ] (1999) | |||
*{{flag|Ukraine}}: | |||
**] First Class of the ] | |||
* {{Flag|United Arab Emirates}}: | |||
**] First Class of the Order of Federation | |||
*{{flag|United Kingdom}}: | |||
**] Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the ] (1995) | |||
== Awards == | |||
*1995: ], of the ] | |||
*1998: ] from ],<ref>{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}, ] webpage, 13 October 2008. AU is successor to HUT/TKK. Retrieved 8 August 2012.</ref> and from ] | |||
*2000: ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fulbright.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2000-Martti-Ahtisaari.pdf|title=Martti Ahtisaari|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=21 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021022243/https://fulbright.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2000-Martti-Ahtisaari.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*2000: ]<ref>]</ref> | |||
*2000: {{Flag|Germany}}: Hessian Peace Prize<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217010143/http://www.hsfk.de/Preistraegerinnen-und-Preistraeger-des-Hessischen.863.0.html?&L=1 |date=17 February 2016 }}, hsfk.de</ref><ref>Dead link at ] website: {{cite web|url=http://www.cmi.fi/?content%3Dspeech%26id%3D11 |title=CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation |access-date=10 October 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509224816/http://www.cmi.fi/?content=speech&id=11 |archive-date=9 May 2013}}.</ref> | |||
*2004: ]<ref name=tambo /> | |||
*2006: Gold Medal of ]<ref name="auto"> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307133547/http://www.cmi.fi/en/office-of-president-ahtisaari/president-ahtisaari/cv |date=7 March 2016 }}, cmi.fi</ref> | |||
*2007: {{Flag|Germany}}: Manfred Wörner Medal of the German Ministry of Defense<ref name="auto"/> | |||
*2007: Honorary degree, ], Switzerland | |||
*2008: ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deltachair.uga.edu/the-delta-prize-for-global-understanding/|title=The Delta Prize for Global Understanding|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=24 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024002233/https://deltachair.uga.edu/the-delta-prize-for-global-understanding/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*2008: ]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187347 |title=Award ceremony of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, UNESCO, 2 October 2008: address by Mr Martti Ahtisaari, Former President of the Republic of Finland, 2007 Prizewinner |access-date=23 October 2023 |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024002237/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187347 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
*2008: ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2008/ahtisaari/facts/|title=The Nobel Peace Prize 2008|website=NobelPrize.org|access-date=23 October 2023|archive-date=3 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903011755/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2008/ahtisaari/facts/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*2008: {{Flag|Netherlands}}: ] | |||
*2011: Honorary degree, ], Canada | |||
==See also== | |||
* ] | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
{{Reflist}} | |||
<references /> | |||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
{{Wikiquote}} | |||
* Ahtisaari and CMI homepage at http://www.ahtisaari.fi | |||
{{Commons category}} | |||
* | |||
* | |||
*{{Nobelprize}} | |||
* | |||
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* {{C-SPAN|38018}} | |||
* in The Presidents of Finland | |||
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{{s-ttl|title=]|years=1994–2000}} | ||
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|DATE OF BIRTH=], ] | |||
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{{Finnish Presidents}} | |||
{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 2001-2025}} | |||
{{2008 Nobel Prize Winners}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 09:37, 17 December 2024
President of Finland from 1994 to 2000
Martti Ahtisaari | |
---|---|
Ahtisaari in 1994 | |
10th President of Finland | |
In office 1 March 1994 – 1 March 2000 | |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Mauno Koivisto |
Succeeded by | Tarja Halonen |
Ambassador of Finland to Tanzania | |
In office 1973–1977 | |
Preceded by | Seppo Pietinen |
Succeeded by | Richard Müller |
Personal details | |
Born | (1937-06-23)23 June 1937 Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia) |
Died | 16 October 2023(2023-10-16) (aged 86) Helsinki, Finland |
Resting place | Hietaniemi Cemetery, Helsinki |
Political party | Social Democratic |
Spouse |
Eeva Hyvärinen (m. 1968) |
Children | Marko |
Alma mater | University of Oulu |
Awards | Nobel Peace Prize (2008) |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Branch/service | Finnish Army |
Rank | Captain |
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (Finnish: [ˈmɑrtːi (ˈoi̯ʋɑ ˈkɑleʋi) ˈɑhtisɑːri] , 23 June 1937 – 16 October 2023) was a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland, from 1994 to 2000, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.
Ahtisaari was a United Nations special envoy for Kosovo, charged with organizing the Kosovo status process negotiations. These negotiations aimed to resolve a long-running dispute in Kosovo, which later declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. In October 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts". The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari had played a prominent role in resolving serious and long-lasting conflicts, including ones in Namibia, Aceh (Indonesia), Kosovo and Serbia, and Iraq.
Youth and early career
Martti Ahtisaari was born in Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia) on 23 June 1937. His father, Oiva Ahtisaari, whose grandfather Julius Marenius Adolfsen had emigrated with his parents to Kotka, Finland in 1872 from Tistedalen in Southern Norway, took Finnish citizenship in 1929 and Finnicized his surname from Adolfsen in 1935. Oiva was working as a NCO in the supply troops in Viipuri when Martti was born.
The Continuation War (World War II) took Oiva Ahtisaari to the front as a non-commissioned officer army mechanic, while Martti's mother, Tyyne, moved to Kuopio with her son to escape immediate danger from the war in 1940. Kuopio was where Ahtisaari spent most of his childhood, eventually attending Kuopion Lyseo high school.
In 1952, Martti Ahtisaari moved to Oulu with his family. There he continued his education in high school, graduating in 1956. He also joined the local YMCA. After completing his military service (Ahtisaari held the rank of captain in the Finnish Army Reserve), he began to study at Oulu teachers' college, attending the two-year course which enabled him to qualify as a primary-school teacher in 1959.
In the summer of 1960, Ahtisaari signed the contract for the position of director of the Swedish Agency for International Development physical education boarding school in Karachi, Pakistan, after interviewing in Sweden and hearing about the offer announced by the YMCA in April of that year. There, he also trained as a teacher.
He returned to Finland in 1963 and began his studies in the Helsinki School of Economics and soon became the Executive Director of the Helsinki International Student Club and Student International Aid, where he made friends with Namibian Nickey Iyambo. He also joined the international students' organisation AIESEC. In 1965, he joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in its Bureau for International Development Aid, to set up the International Development Assistance Office together with Jaakko Iloniemi, which was a pioneering office, as the Finnish presence in international cooperation in the Third World was non-existent. Ahtisaari remained in that office until 1972, where he served from 1971 as assistant to the director, a position he combined with his presence on the Government's Advisory Committee for Trade and Industry Affairs of Developing Countries.
Diplomatic career
In the Namibian independence transition
Ahtisaari began his diplomatic career in 1973 when he became Finland's Ambassador to Tanzania, Zambia, Somalia and Mozambique, an office he held until 1977. This new mission allowed him to get closer to East African affairs, monitoring from Dar es Salaam the independence process of Namibia and maintaining close contacts with South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). In 1977 he was recalled by the United Nations to succeed Seán MacBride as United Nations Commissioner for Namibia, a post he held until 1981, and as representative of Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim from 1978.
Following the death of a later UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, on Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988 – on the eve of the signing of the Tripartite Accord at UN Headquarters – Ahtisaari was sent to Namibia in April 1989 as the UN Special Representative to head the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG). Because of the illegal incursion of SWAPO troops from Angola, the South African appointed Administrator-General (AG), Louis Pienaar, sought Ahtisaari's agreement to the deployment of SADF troops to stabilize the situation. Ahtisaari took advice from British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was visiting the region at the time, and approved the SADF deployment. A period of intense fighting ensued when at least 375 SWAPO insurgents were killed. In July 1989, Glenys Kinnock and Tessa Blackstone of the British Council of Churches visited Namibia and reported: "There is a widespread feeling that too many concessions were made to South African personnel and preferences and that Martti Ahtisaari was not forceful enough in his dealings with the South Africans."
Perhaps because of his reluctance to authorise this SADF deployment, Ahtisaari was alleged to have been targeted by the South African Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB). According to a hearing in September 2000 of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, two CCB operatives (Kobus le Roux and Ferdinand Barnard) were tasked not to kill Ahtisaari, but to give him "a good hiding". To carry out the assault, Barnard had planned to use the grip handle of a metal saw as a knuckleduster. In the event, Ahtisaari did not attend the meeting at the Keetmanshoop Hotel, where Le Roux and Barnard lay in wait for him, and thus Ahtisaari escaped injury.
After the independence elections of 1989, Ahtisaari and his wife were made honorary Namibian citizens in 1992. South Africa gave him the O R Tambo award for "his outstanding achievement as a diplomat and commitment to the cause of freedom in Africa and peace in the world".
Ahtisaari served as UN undersecretary-general for administration and management from 1987 to 1991 causing mixed feelings inside the organisation during an internal investigation of massive fraud. When Ahtisaari revealed in 1990 that he had secretly lengthened the grace period allowing UN officials to return misappropriated taxpayer money from the original three months to three years, the investigators were furious. The 340 officials found guilty of fraud were able to return money even after their crime had been proven. The harshest punishment was the firing of twenty corrupt officials.
Other roles
On 31 July 1991, he was appointed Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in the Esko Aho's government. After the Gulf War, Ahtisaari headed a team tasked with reporting to the UN on changes in the situation and humanitarian needs. The report did not meet these expectations and was believed to have eroded American support for Ahtisaari's candidacy for the UN Secretary-General.
Between 1992 and 1993, Ahtisaari chaired the UN Conference on Yugoslavia's Working Group on Bosnia and Herzegovina and became the special assistant to Cyrus Vance, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Croatia.
President of Finland (1994–2000)
See also: 1994 Finnish presidential electionFinland's ongoing recession caused established political figures to lose public support, and the presidential elections were now direct instead of being conducted through an electoral college. The Social Democratic Party of Finland's candidate to succeed Mauno Koivisto as President of Finland was decided in a primary between Ahtisaari and former Prime Minister and diplomat Kalevi Sorsa. Ahtisaari led in the polls against Sorsa, who was already a popular and experienced politician and won the primaries on 16 May 1993 with 61% of the votes.
After the primaries, Ahtisaari returned to his work in Geneva, and did not start his presidential campaign until the end of October. Ahtisaari narrowly won over his second round opponent, Elisabeth Rehn of the Swedish People's Party. During the campaign, there were rumours spread by some political opponents of Ahtisaari that he had a drinking problem or that he had knowingly accepted a double salary from the Finnish Foreign Ministry and from the United Nations while trying to negotiate an end to the Bosnian War. Ahtisaari denied both allegations and no firm proof of them has emerged. During the three-week campaign between the two rounds of presidential elections, Ahtisaari was praised by his supporters for being more compassionate towards the many unemployed Finns than Rehn, who as Defence Minister had to officially support the Aho government's strict economic policies. A minor controversy arose during a town hall-style presidential debate in Lappeenranta, southeastern Finland when an apparently born-again Christian woman in the audience asked Rehn what her relationship with Jesus was. Rehn replied that she had personally no proof that Jesus had been a historical person. Ahtisaari ducked a precise answer by stating that he trusted the Lutheran confession even on this issue. He was sworn in on 1 March 1994.
His term as president began with a schism within the Centre Party government led by prime minister Esko Aho, who did not approve of Ahtisaari's being actively involved in foreign policy. There was also some controversy over Ahtisaari's speaking out on domestic issues such as unemployment. He travelled extensively in Finland and abroad, and was nicknamed "Matka-Mara" ("Travel-Mara", Mara being a common diminutive form of Martti). His monthly travels throughout the country and his meetings with ordinary citizens (the so-called maakuntamatkat or "provincial trips") nonetheless greatly enhanced his political popularity. Ahtisaari kept his campaign promise to visit one Finnish historical province every month during his presidency. He also donated some thousands of Finnish marks per month to the unemployed people's organisations, and a few thousand Finnish marks to the Christian social organisation of the late lay preacher and social worker Veikko Hursti.
Ahtisaari favoured pluralism and religious tolerance publicly. Privately, he and his wife practised their Christian faith. Contrary to some of his predecessors and his successor as the Finnish President, Ahtisaari ended all of his New Year's speeches by wishing the Finnish people God's blessing.
In January 1998 Ahtisaari was criticized by some NGOs, politicians and notable cultural figures because he awarded Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland to the Forest Minister of Indonesia and to the main owner of the Indonesian RGM Company, a parent company of the April Company. The April Company was criticized by non-governmental organisations for destroying rain forests, and Indonesia itself was criticized heavily for human rights violations, especially in East Timor. Ahtisaari's party chairman Erkki Tuomioja said that giving medals was questionable since he feared the act may tarnish the public image of Finnish human rights policy. Students of the arts had demonstrations in Helsinki against the decision to give medals.
President Ahtisaari publicly supported Finland's entry into the European Union, and in a 1994 referendum, 57 percent of Finnish voters were in favour of EU membership. He later stated that if Finland had not voted to join the EU he would have resigned. The promotion of a European collective security system and Nordic cooperation, as well as a security policy without membership of NATO, were central to Ahtisaari's foreign policy.
During Ahtisaari's term as president, Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton met in Helsinki. He also negotiated alongside Viktor Chernomyrdin with Slobodan Milošević to end the fighting in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo in 1999.
Ahtisaari's lack of restrained involvement in public affairs and his pronouncements on domestic and economic policy provoked reservations both in Parliament itself and in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and led Ahtisaari not to stand for re-election in 2000, which was announced in April 1999, and also alleged that two members of the SDP also ran as candidates. Ahtisaari was the last "strong president", before the 2000 constitution reduced the president's powers. He was succeeded by Tarja Halonen on 1 March 2000.
Post-presidential life
In Finnish politics, Ahtisaari long stressed how important it is for Finland to join NATO. Ahtisaari argued that Finland should be a full member of NATO and the EU in order "to shrug off once and for all the burden of Finlandization". He believed politicians should file application and make Finland a member. He said that the way Finnish politicians avoided expressing their opinions was disturbing. He also noted that the so-called "NATO option" (acquiring membership if Finland were to be threatened) was an illusion, making an analogy to trying to obtain fire insurance when the fire has already started. Finland joined NATO on 4 April 2023, while Ahtisaari was still alive.
After leaving office, Ahtisaari held positions in various international organisations. In 2000, he became Chairman of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, an NGO to which he committed $100,000 in government funding in 1994 one month after becoming elected President of Finland. He remained Chairman Emeritus.
Ahtisaari also founded the independent Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) with the goal of developing and sustaining peace in troubled areas. On 1 December 2000, Ahtisaari was awarded the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding by the Fulbright Association in recognition of his work as a peacemaker in some of the world's most troubled areas. In May 2017 Ahtisaari suggested as new CMI leader Alexander Stubb a Finnish politician representing Finnish conservatives i.e. the National Coalition Party.
In 2000–01, Ahtisaari and Cyril Ramaphosa inspected IRA weapons dumps for the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.
In 2003 Ahtisaari defended George W. Bush's attack to Iraq, describing it as humanitarian intervention, which incited criticism from professor of history Juha Sihvola.
In November 2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Ahtisaari as Special Envoy for the Kosovo status process which was to determine whether Kosovo, having been administered by the United Nations since 1999, should become independent or remain a province of Serbia. In early 2006, Ahtisaari opened the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK) in Vienna, Austria, from where he conducted the Kosovo status negotiations. Those opposed to Ahtisaari's settlement proposal, which involved an internationally monitored independence for Kosovo, sought to discredit him. Allegations made by Balkan media sources of corruption and improper conduct by Ahtisaari were described by US State Department spokesman Tom Casey as "spurious", adding that Ahtisaari's plan is the "best solution possible" and has the "full endorsement of the United States". The New York Times suggested that this criticism of Ahtisaari on the part of the Serbs had led to the "bogging down" of the Kosovo status talks. In November 2008, Serbian media reported Pierre Mirel, director of the EU enlargement commission's western Balkans division as saying: "The EU has accepted that the deployment of EULEX has to be approved by the United Nations Security Council, and that the mission has to be neutral and will not be related to the Ahtisaari plan," Mirel said, following his meeting with Serbia's vice-president Bozidar Djelic.
In July 2007, however, when the EU, Russia and the United States agreed to find a new format for the talks, Ahtisaari announced that he regarded his mission as over. Since neither the UN nor the troika had asked him to continue mediations in the face of Russia's persistent refusal to support independence for Kosovo, he said he would nonetheless be willing to take on "a role as consultant", if requested. After a period of uncertainty and mounting tension, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008.
In his work, he emphasised the importance of the United States in the peace process, stating that "There can be no peace without America."
Ahtisaari was chairman of the Interpeace Governing Council from 2000 to 2009. Beginning in 2009, Ahtisaari was Chairman Emeritus and a Special Advisor.
Ahtisaari was board director of the ImagineNations Group.
That same year he received the 2007 UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, for "his lifetime contribution to world peace".
In September 2009 Ahtisaari joined The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues. He travelled to the Korean Peninsula with fellow Elders Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson in April 2011, and to South Sudan with Robinson and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in July 2012.
He was also a member of the board of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Syria conflict
In August 2012, Ahtisaari opined on the sectarian violence in Syria and was mentioned as a possible replacement as Joint Envoy there to succeed former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. However, Ahtisaari then told the Finnish state broadcaster YLE that "he wished the mission would fall on someone else" which it ultimately did in the person of Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and longtime U.N. diplomat.
In late 2015, Martti Ahtisaari reiterated charges he already had made in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in early 2013 against members of the UN security council on the obstruction of a political solution to the escalating conflict in Syria. Ahtisaari said in an interview in September 2015 that he held talks about Syria with envoys from the five permanent members of the UN security council in February 2012. According to Ahtisaari, Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the United Nations, laid out three points during a meeting with him, which included not arming the Syrian opposition, commencing talks between Syrian president Assad and the opposition and finding "an elegant way for Assad to step aside". But the US, Britain and France subsequently ignored the proposal. Ahtisaari said in the interview: "Nothing happened because I think all these, and many others, were convinced that Assad would be thrown out of office in a few weeks so there was no need to do anything."
Personal life, health and death
In 1968, he married Eeva Irmeli Hyvärinen, who was studying history at the University of Helsinki and whom he met as a child at the Lyceum in Kuopio. They had one son, Marko Ahtisaari, who was born in 1969.
On 24 March 2020, amid the large-scale outbreak of COVID-19, it was announced that Ahtisaari had tested positive for the disease. His spouse, Eeva Ahtisaari, was diagnosed with the same virus on 21 March. Eeva Ahtisaari had attended the International Women's Day concert on 8 March at the Helsinki Music Centre while infected. On 14 April 2020 it was announced that Martti and Eeva Ahtisaari were recovering from the coronavirus infection.
On 2 September 2021, it was announced that Ahtisaari had Alzheimer's disease and had retired from public life.
Ahtisaari died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in Helsinki, on 16 October 2023, at age 86. His state funeral was held on 10 November 2023 in Helsinki Cathedral at 1 p.m., after which he was buried at the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki.
Honours
Nobel Peace Prize
On 10 October 2008, Ahtisaari was announced as that year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Ahtisaari received the prize on 10 December 2008 at Oslo City Hall in Norway. Ahtisaari twice worked to find a solution in Kosovo – first in 1999 and again between 2005 and 2007. The committee said he also worked with others this year to find a peaceful solution to the problems in Iraq. According to the committee, Ahtisaari and his group, Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), also contributed to resolving other conflicts in Northern Ireland, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa. Ahtisaari invited Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Stubb and others to his Nobel event, but not President Halonen.
According to the memoir of the former secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad, former Foreign Minister and UN ambassador Keijo Korhonen, who was strongly against awarding the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize to Ahtisaari, wrote a letter to the committee which negatively portrayed Ahtisaari as a person and his merits in international conflict zones.
Coat of Arms of Martti Ahtisaari | |
---|---|
Armiger | Martti Ahtisaari |
Adopted | 1994 |
Motto | Se pystyy ken uskaltaa ("The one who dares, can") |
National honours
- Finland:
- Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1999)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Liberty
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland
- Saint Henry Cross
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Lamb
Foreign honours
- Albania:
- National Flag Decoration (12 September 2016)
- Australia:
- Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (2002)
- Argentina:
- Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín (3 March 1997)
- Belgium:
- Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
- Brazil:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross
- Chile:
- Collar of the Order of Merit
- Denmark:
- Knight of the Order of the Elephant (1994)
- Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog
- Estonia:
- Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana
- France:
- Grand Cross of the Order of Legion of Honour
- Germany:
- Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Greece:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
- Hungary:
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
- Iceland:
- Collar with Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon (26 September 1995)
- Indonesia:
- Third Class of the Star of the Republic of Indonesia
- Italy:
- Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1997)
- Kuwait:
- Grand Cordon of the Order of Mubarak the Great
- Latvia:
- Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Three Stars:
- Lithuania
- Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (1996)
- Malaysia:
- Honorary Recipient of the Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm (1995)
- Mexico:
- Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (1999)
- Netherlands:
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
- Norway:
- Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St. Olav (1994)
- Poland:
- Knight of the Order of the White Eagle (1997)
- Romania:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
- South Africa:
- Supreme Companion of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo (16 June 2004)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope (1997)
- Spain:
- Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
- Sweden:
- Knight with Collar (1996) of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (1994)
- Turkey:
- First Class of the Order of the State of the Republic of Turkey (1999)
- Ukraine:
- First Class of the Order of Yaroslav the Wise
- United Arab Emirates:
- United Kingdom:
- Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (1995)
Awards
- 1995: Zamenhof Prize for International Understanding, of the World Esperanto Association
- 1998: Honorary doctorate from Helsinki University of Technology, and from National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
- 2000: J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding
- 2000: Freedom medal
- 2000: Germany: Hessian Peace Prize
- 2004: OR Tambo Award
- 2006: Gold Medal of The American-Scandinavian Foundation
- 2007: Germany: Manfred Wörner Medal of the German Ministry of Defense
- 2007: Honorary degree, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
- 2008: Delta Prize for Global Understanding
- 2008: Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize
- 2008: Nobel Peace Prize
- 2008: Netherlands: Geuzenpenning
- 2011: Honorary degree, University of Calgary, Canada
See also
References
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Martti Ahtisaari, had just been elected President of Finland a month earlier. When I explained to Martti what we had in mind, he immediately and graciously offered to provide $100,000 in funding from Finland
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Chairmen Emeriti – Martti Ahtisaari
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{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - "TKK Honorary Doctor Martti Ahtisaari to receive Nobel Peace Prize", Aalto University webpage, 13 October 2008. AU is successor to HUT/TKK. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- "Martti Ahtisaari" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- Four Freedoms Award#Freedom Medal
- Laureates of the Hessian Peace Prize Archived 17 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, hsfk.de
- Dead link at Crisis Management Initiative website: "CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation". Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2008..
- ^ CV of Martti Ahtisaari Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, cmi.fi
- "The Delta Prize for Global Understanding". Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- "Award ceremony of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, UNESCO, 2 October 2008: address by Mr Martti Ahtisaari, Former President of the Republic of Finland, 2007 Prizewinner". Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- "The Nobel Peace Prize 2008". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
External links
- Martti Ahtisaari's Project Syndicate op/eds
- Martti Ahtisaari on Nobelprize.org
- Ahtisaari Nobel Prize lecture
- ThisisFINLAND -Nobel recognition rewards peaceful resolutions
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Martti Ahtisaari in The Presidents of Finland
Political offices | ||
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Preceded byMauno Koivisto | President of Finland 1994–2000 |
Succeeded byTarja Halonen |
Awards and achievements | ||
Preceded byAl Gore Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize 2008 |
Succeeded byBarack Obama |
Presidents of Finland | ||
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2008 Nobel Prize laureates | |
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Chemistry |
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Literature (2008) |
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Peace |
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Physics |
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Physiology or Medicine |
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Economic Sciences |
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The Elders | |
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Chair | |
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Members | |
Former Members |
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- Martti Ahtisaari
- 1937 births
- 2023 deaths
- Presidents of Finland
- Nobel Peace Prize laureates
- Finnish Nobel laureates
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