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Jaak Aaviksoo, born 11 January 1954 in Tartu, Estonia (under the Soviet occupation at the time) is an Estonian politician and current Estonian Minister of Defense. He is a member of liberal conservative Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica.

Education and career in science

After finishing Tartu Secondary School No. 2 (present-day Miina Härma Gymnasium) in 1971, Aaviksoo enetered the Tartu State University physics department in the chemistry-physics faculty and graduated cum laude in the field of theoretical physics in 1976. From 1976 to 1992 he was first junior, then senior and then leading scientist at the Physics Institute of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (named Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR until 1988). There he also become a Ph.D. in Physics (Thesis: On Resonant Secondary Emission in sodium nitrite and Authracene) in 1981. In 1992 he returned to Tartu University, this time as a professor of optics and spectroscopy. In 1995 he was the acting director of the Tartu University institute of experimental physics and technology and from 1992 to 1995 also the first pro-rector of Tartu University. He became a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and thus an academician in 1994. From 1981 to 1994 Aaviksoo worked in many foreign institutes as a guest professor, namely the Novosibirsk Institute of Thermal Physics, the Max Planck Solid Objects Exploration Institute in Stuttgart, Osaka University and University of Paris VII: Denis Diderot.

First spell as a politician and rectorate of Tartu University

From November 1995 to January 1996 he was Estonian Minister of Culture and Education and from then to November 1997 he was the Estonian Minister of Education in the governments of Tiit Vähi. During this period he was also a member of the conservative liberal Reform Party, from which he resigned before becoming the rector of Tartu University in 1998. He won a second and final five-year term in 2003, but resigned in 2006 to once again pursue a political career.

Restart of Aaviksoo's career in politics

Elections in 2007

In 2006 Jaak Aaviksoo announced that he would be leaving the post of rector of Tartu University to run for a seat in the Estonian parliament or Riigikogu in the 2007 elections, this time not as a member of the Reform Party, but as a member of liberal conservative Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica. Before joining the party and leaving his post as rector, Aaviksoo was considered as a candidate for the presidental elections in 2006, which were won by Toomas Hendrik Ilves. After already having joined Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica, Aaviksoo sought to become the party's leader for the 2007 parliamentary elections and so candidate for Prime Minister of Estonia, but lost a closely contested duel within the party to internationally renowned two-time former Prime Minister Mart Laar.

In the elections he gained 4241 votes in his district and was elected to Riigikogu. Aaviksoo's party was left third in the elections with 19 seats after the Reform Party with 31 and the Centre Party with 29 seats. After Andrus Ansip, leader of the Reform Party, invited Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica to form a coalition government, Aaviksoo was tipped for several high positions, i.e. the Speaker of Riigikogu and Minister of Economics. Surprisingly, he took the post of Defense Minister instead.

As Minister of Defense

Having assumed office on April 5 2007, his first primary goals as Defense Minister are restructuring the power management of the Estonian Defense Forces and dealing with the situation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet war monument, which' soon-to-be-carried-out moving has caused much controversy and ethnic tension between a large proportion Estonians and local Russians. He also sees the Estonian youth's weak will of defending their country as a serious problem.

Allegations

At a commemoration of Estonian Waffen-SS veterans in 2007, Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo and Parliament member Trivimi Velliste were reportedly accompanied by crowds of youth dressed in what were alleged to be Nazi symbols. Veteran Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff of the United States-based Simon Wiesenthal Center said that the events, attracting "dozens of foreign neo-Nazis," clearly demonstrated "the danger that they will encourage the rebirth of fascism and racist extremism." Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Chairman Rene van der Linden has remarked that Estonia's efforts to gloss over its Nazi past would be high on the assembly’s agenda during its convention in Strasbourg. Aaviksoo felt indignant however that Russia used Erna retk to launch yet another propaganda campaign, pointing out that Erna long-range recce group was a Finnish army group wearing the insignia of the Finnish army, not Nazi symbols. A white swastika on a blue background has been a long-standing symbol of the Finnish armed forces since before usurped by Hitler in the rise of Nazism, and is still used by the Finnish Air Force.

Personal life

Jaak Aaviksoo is married and a father of three. He speaks fluent English, German, Russian and French on an average level.

Works

Aaviksoo has publicized over 100 scientific articles and over 80 publicistic articles from 1976 to 2002. His more important publifications from the past decade are:

• J. Aaviksoo, C. Gourdon, R. Grousson, P. Lavallard, "Photoluminescence quantum yield in GaAs/AlAs superlattices", Solid State Electronics (vol. 40, no 1-8, p. 687, 1996)
• J. Aaviksoo, C. Gourdon, P. Lavallard, "Power nonlinearities in the luminescence spectrum of GaAs/AlAs superlattices", Solid State Communications (vol. 99, no 6, p. 387, 1996)
• S. O. Kognovitskii, V. V. Travnikov, J. Aaviksoo, I. Reimand, "Light Scattering by electrons in the absorption region of GaAs" - Phys. Solid State (vol. 39, no. 6, p. 907, 1997)
• I. Reimand, J. Aaviksoo, "Exciton interaction with hot electrons in GaAs", Technical digest of X International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena in Spectroscopy, (Tartu, 1997, p. 82)
• J. Aaviksoo, "Estonian physicist: Active and productive", Science (vol. 275, no 5299, p. 463)
• J. Aaviksoo. Priorities for Higher Education in Central and Eastern European Countries. - Higher Education Management (vol. 9, no. 2, p. 19, 1997).
• I. Reimand, J. Aaviksoo, "Exciton interaction with hot electrons in GaAs", Phys. Rev. B 61, 2000, no 24, p 16653-16658

Honors

• Member of the Academy of Sciences of Estonia (1994)
• The Estonian Order of the State Coat of Arms, class IV (1999)
• The Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2000)
• The Order of Merit of the French Republic (2001)
• The White Rose Order of the Republic of Finland (2001)
• The Medal of the City of Tartu (2002)
• Honorary doctoral degree of Tartu University (2003)
• Member of Academia Europaea (2004)
• The White Star services badge of the Republic of Estonia (2006)

References

1. ^ >Serebryany, Igor. "Estonia feting Nazi past draws ire". 6 August 2007. JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People. http://jta.org/news/article-print/2007/08/06/103437/EstoniaSS Retrieved 5 June 2009. Cite error: The named reference "Estonia feting Nazi past draws ire" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. "Jewish Group Criticizes Glorification by Estonia of its Support for Nazis in WWII". European Jewish Press. 8 August 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
3. Kass, Martti (2007-08-09). "Aaviksoo: Erna retk ei möödunud ilma Venemaa laimukampaaniata". Postimees (in Estonian). Retrieved 2009-06-10.
4. Pau, Aivar (2007-08-09). "Aaviksoo: Venemaa laimukampaania on nördimapanev". Eesti Päevaleht (in Estonian). EkspressMeedia. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
5. Frequently Asked about the Finnish Air Force, Why did the Finnish Air Force use the swastika as the national marking between 1918 and 1945? Why is the swastika still part of badges of Air Force units?
6. Biography on the official website of the Estonian Ministry of Defense

• 1954 births
• Living people
• Estonian conservatives
• Government ministers of Estonia
• Members of Academia Europaea
• People from Tartu
• University of Tartu alumni