Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth President of Finland, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and United Nations diplomat and mediator, noted for his international peace work...
NationalityFinnish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth23 June 1937
CityVyborg, Finland
CountryFinland
became borders caused country fellow finland great home hundred left politics power refugees several soviet thousand town
Like several hundred thousand fellow Karelians, we became refugees in our own country as great power politics caused the borders of Finland to be redrawn and left my home town as part of the Soviet Union.
along attacked became born city displaced eternally fellow found lost mediator origins peace rest soviet union
The origins of my career as a peace mediator can be found from my childhood years. I was born in the city of Viipuri, then still part of Finland. We lost Viipuri when the Soviet Union attacked my country. Along with 400,000 fellow Karelians, I became an eternally displaced person in the rest of Finland.
based became conflicts involved parties trust
Mediators do not choose the conflicts they became involved in, but the parties to the conflict choose the mediator. Their participation as intermediaries is based on the trust of all the conflicting parties.
eastern household moved settling
With my mother, I moved from one household to another before settling in the eastern part of Finland, in the city of Kuopio.
applies themselves
Religions themselves are... peace-loving. They can also be a constructive force in peace-building, and this also applies to the Middle East.
allowing conflicts peace
Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal.
aim chinese explain happened member owe permanent prime talks
My prime aim is to go to see the permanent member who has not been briefed properly. I think I owe it to the Chinese that I explain what has happened in these talks that I have attended, ... This Week.
following god institute offered permanent saw stay swedish teaching work
I saw an advertisement to work for a Swedish institute in Karachi in Pakistan. I had just been offered a permanent assignment, teaching in Oulu. But I felt, 'My God, I am not going to stay here forever.' You know why? Because I was following international events.
It is clear a Palestinian state is needed.
agree clarify details mean
I think we have been able to clarify issues, ... I do not want to say it does not mean that in all details we agree 100 percent.
clarity point sought
We have now come to the point when the clarity has to be sought from Yugoslavia,
anybody former means mere state
The mere fact that I'm former head of state and former under-secretary in the U.N. system, it means that I can get in touch with anybody in the world, in theory.
collect listen object trip
The object of this first trip is to listen to the parties, collect impressions,
choice excellent extremely good
It's an excellent choice ... for an organization that does extremely good work.