Ion Iliescu

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"Iliescu" redirects here. For other people with the surname, see Iliescu (surname).

Ion Iliescu
IO, OCTM, GOKT, OWE, OMIR

2nd and 4th President of Romania

In office
22 December 1989 29 November 1996
Acting to 20 May 1990

Preceded by

Nicolae Ceauescu

Succeeded by

Emil Constantinescu

In office
20 December 2000 20 December 2004

Preceded by

Emil Constantinescu

Succeeded by

Traian Bsescu

Personal details

Born

3 March 1930 (age 86)

Oltenia, Clrai, Romania

Nationality

Romanian

Political party Romanian Communist Party

(19531989)

National Salvation Front

(19891992)

Democratic National Salvation Front

(19921993)

Independent
(19931996;2000-2004; NSDF/PSDR/PSD membership suspended while
president)

Social Democratic Party

(19962000;2004-present)

Spouse(s)

Nina Iliescu (m. 1951)

Alma mater

Bucharest Polytechnic Institute

Moscow State University

Profession

Hydroelectric Engineer

Signature

Ion Iliescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ion iliesku] ( listen); born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and statesman,
who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from
2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a senator for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), whose honorary
president he remains.

He joined the Communist Party in 1953 and became a member of its Central Committee in 1965, however beginning
with 1971 he was gradually marginalized by Nicolae Ceauescu. He had a leading role in the Romanian Revolution,
becoming the country's president in December 1989. In May 1990, he became Romania's first freely elected head of
state. After a new constitution was approved by popular referendum, he served a further two terms as president, from
1992 to 1996, and from 2000 to 2004, separated by the presidency of Emil Constantinescu, who defeated him in
1996.
Iliescu is widely recognized as a predominant figure in the first fifteen years of post-revolution politics. During his
terms Romania joined NATO.
Contents
[hide]

1Early life and entering politics

2Romanian Revolution

3Presidency

4Controversies
o

4.1Alleged KGB connections

4.2Mineriads

4.3King Michael

4.4Pardons

4.5Decorating Vadim Tudor

4.6Black sites

5Awards

6References

7Further reading

8External links

Early life and entering politics[edit]

This section needs expansion.You
can help by adding to it. (June 2013)

Iliescu's father, Alexandru Iliescu, was a railroad worker with Communist views during the period in which
the Romanian Communist Party was banned by the authorities. In 1931, he went to the Soviet Union to take part in
the Communist Party Congress of Moscow. He remained in the USSR for the next four years and was arrested upon
his return. He was imprisoned from June 1940 to August 1944 and died in August 1945. During his time in the Soviet
Union, Alexandru Iliescu divorced and married Maria, a chambermaid.

1965 political poster

Iliescu married Nina erbnescu in 1951; they have no children, not by choice but because they could not, as Nina
had three miscarriages.[1] Born in Oltenia, Iliescu studied fluid mechanics at the Bucharest Polytechnic Institute and
then as a foreign student at the Energy Institute of the Moscow University. During his stay in Moscow, he was the
secretary of the "Association of Romanian Students" it is alleged that he knew Mikhail Gorbachev, although Iliescu
always denied this.[2] President Nicolae Ceauescu, however, probably believed a connection between the two
existed, since during Gorbachev's visit to Romania in July 1989, Iliescu was sent outside of Bucharest to prevent any
contact.[3]

Ion Iliescu in 1976 together with Elena Ceauescu

He joined the Union of Communist Youth in 1944 and the Communist Party in 1953 and made a career in the
Communist nomenklatura, becoming a secretary of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth in 1956
and a member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party in 1965. At one point, he served as the
head of the Central Committee's Department of Propaganda.[2] Iliescu later served as Minister for Youth-related Issues
between 1967 and 1971.
However, in 1971, Ceauescu felt threatened by Iliescuas he was seen as Ceauescu's heir apparentand he was
marginalized by and removed from all major political offices, being assigned vice-president of the Timi
County Council (19711974), and later president of the Iai Council (19741979). Until 1989, he was in charge of
Editura Tehnic publishing house. For most of the 1980s (if not before), he was tailed by the Securitate (secret
police), as he was known to oppose Ceauescu's harsh rule.[4]

Romanian Revolution[edit]
Main article: Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution began as a popular revolt in Timioara. After Ceauescu was overthrown on 22 December
(he was executed on Christmas Day), the political vacuum was filled by an organization named National Salvation
Front (FSN: Frontul Salvrii Naionale), formed spontaneously by second-rank communist party members opposed to

the policies of Ceauescu and non-affiliated participants in the revolt. Iliescu was quickly acknowledged as the leader
of the organization and therefore of the provisional authority. He first learned of the revolution when he noticed the
Securitate was no longer tailing him.[4]

Iliescu (center) with FSN members Dumitru Mazilu (left) and Petre Roman(right) on 23 December 1989, one day after the formation of the
FSN.

Iliescu proposed multi-party elections and an "original democracy". This is widely held to have meant the adoption
ofPerestroika-style reforms rather than the complete removal of existing institutions; it can be linked to the warm
reception the new regime was given by Mikhail Gorbachev and the rest of the Soviet leadership, and the fact that the
first post-revolutionary international agreement signed by Romania was with that country.
Iliescu did not renounce Communist ideology and the program he initially presented during the revolution included
restructuring the agriculture and the reorganization of trade, but not a switch to capitalism.[2] These views were held by
other members of the FSN as well, such as Silviu Brucan, who claimed in early 1990 that the revolution was against
Ceauescu, not against communism.[citation needed] Iliescu later evoked the possibility of trying a "Swedish model" of
socialism.
Rumours abounded for years that Illiescu and other second-rank Communists had been planning to overthrow
Ceauescu, but the events of December 1989 overtook them. For instance, Nicolae Militaru, the new regime's
first defense minister, said that Illiescu and others had planned to take Ceauescu prisoner in February 1990 while he
was out of the capital. However, Illiescu denies this, saying that the nature of the Ceauescu regimeparticularly the
Securitate's ubiquitymade advance planning for a coup all but impossible.[4]

Presidency[edit]
This section needs expansion.You
can help by adding to it. (June 2012)

Presidential styles of

Ion Iliescu

Reference style

Preedintele (President)

Spoken style

Preedintele (President)

Alternative style

Domnia Sa/Excelena Sa (His Excellency)

The National Salvation Front decided to organize itself as a party and run in the 1990 general electionthe first free
election held in the country in 53 years. It won a sweeping victory, taking over 70% of the votes. In the separate
presidential election, Iliescu won handily, taking 85 percent of the vote. He thus became Romania's first
democratically elected head of state, and the first since 1947 who was not a Communist or fellow traveler.
Iliescu and his supporters split from the Front and created the Democratic National Salvation Front (NSDF), which
later evolved into the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), then the Social Democratic Party (PSD)
(see Social Democratic Party of Romania). Progressively, the Front lost its character as a national government or
generic coalition, and became vulnerable to criticism for using its appeal as the first institution involved in power
sharing, while engaging itself in political battles with forces that could not enjoy this status, nor the credibility.
Under the pressure of the events that led to the Mineriads, his political stance has veered with time: from a proponent
ofPerestroika, Iliescu recast himself as a Western European social democrat. The main debate around the subject of
his commitment to such ideals is linked to the special conditions in Romania, and especially to the
strong nationalist and autarkic attitude visible within the Ceauescu regime. Critics have pointed out that, unlike most
communist-to-social democrat changes in the Eastern bloc, Romania's tended to retain various cornerstones.

Iliescu in 2004

Iliescu and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002

The new Constitution was adopted in 1991, and in 1992 he won a second term when he received 61% of the vote. He
immediately resigned as leader of the NSDF; the Constitution does not allow the president to be a formal member of
a political party during his term. He ran for a third time in 1996 but, stripped of media monopoly, he lost to Emil
Constantinescu. Over 1,000,000 votes were cancelled, leading to accusations of widespread fraud.
In the 2000 presidential election Iliescu ran again and won in the run-off against the ultra-nationalist[5][6][7] Corneliu
Vadim Tudor. He began his third term on 20 December of that year, ending on 20 December 2004. The center-right
was severely defeated during the 2000 elections due largely to public dissatisfaction with the harsh economic reforms
of the previous four years as well as the political instability and infighting of the multiparty coalition. Tudor's extreme
views also ensured that most urban voters either abstained or chose Iliescu.
In the PSD elections of 21 April 2005, Iliescu lost the Party presidency to Mircea Geoan, but was elected as
honorary president of the party in 2006, a position without official executive authority in the party.

Controversies[edit]
Though enjoying a certain popularity due to his opposition to Ceauescu and image as a revolutionary, his political
career after 1989 was characterized by multiple controversies and scandals. Public opinion regarding his tenure as
president is still divided.[8]

Alleged KGB connections[edit]

Some alleged Iliescu had connections to the KGB, the allegations continued during 2003-2008, when Russian
dissidentVladimir Bukovsky, who had been granted access to Soviet archives, declared that Iliescu and some of the
NSF members were KGB agents, that Iliescu had been in close connection with Mikhail Gorbachev ever since they
had allegedly met during Iliescu's stay in Moscow, and that the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a plot organized by
the KGB to regain control of the country's policies (gradually lost under Ceauescu's rule).[9] The only hard evidence
published was a discussion between Gorbachev and Bulgaria's Aleksandar Lilov from 23 May 1990 (after Iliescu's
victory in the May 20 elections) in which Gorbachev says that Iliescu holds a "calculated position", and that despite
sharing common views with Iliescu, Gorbachev wanted to avoid sharing this impression with the public.[10]

Mineriads[edit]
Main article: Mineriad
He, along with other figures in the leading FSN, was allegedly responsible for calling the Jiu Valley miners to
Bucharest on 28 January and 14 June 1990 to end the protests of the citizens gathered in University Square,
Bucharest, protests aimed against the ex-communist leaders of Romania (like himself). The pejorative term for this
demonstration was the Golaniad (from the Romanian golan, rascal). On 13 June, an attempt of the authorities to
remove from the square around 100 protesters, which had remained in the street even after the May elections had
confirmed Iliescu and the FSN, resulted in attacks against several state institutions, such as the Ministry of Interior,
the Bucharest Police Headquarters and the National Television. Iliescu issued a call to the Romanian people to come
and defend the government, prompting several group of miners to descend on the capital, armed with wooden clubs
and bats. They trashed the University of Bucharest, some newspaper offices and the headquarters of opposition
parties, claiming that they were havens of decadence and immorality - drugs, firearms and munitions, "an automatic
typewriter", and fake currency. The June 1990 Mineriad in particular was widely criticized both at home and
internationally, with one historian (Andrei Pippidi) comparing the events to Nazi Germany's Kristallnacht.[11]
[12]
Government inquiries later established that the miners were infiltrated and instigated by
former Securitate operatives.[13]In February 1994 a Bucharest court "found two security officers, Colonel Ion. Nicolae
and warrant officer Corneliu Dumitrescu, guilty of ransacking the house of Ion Raiu, a leading figure in the National
Peasant Christian Democratic Party, during the miners incursion, and stealing $100,000."[14]

King Michael[edit]
In 1992, three years after the revolution which overthrew the Communist dictatorship, the Romanian government
allowed King Michael to return to his country for Easter celebrations, where he drew large crowds. In Bucharest over
a million people turned out to see him. Michael's popularity alarmed the government of President Ion Iliescu, so
Michael was forbidden to visit Romania again for five years. In 1997, after Iliescu's defeat by Emil Constantinescu,
the Romanian Government restored Michael's citizenship and again allowed him to visit the country.

Pardons[edit]
In December 2001, Iliescu pardoned three inmates convicted for bribery, including George Tnase, former Financial
Guard head commissioner for Ialomia.[15] Iliescu had to revoke Tnase's pardon a few days later due to the media
outcry, claiming that "a legal adviser was superficial in analyzing the case".[16][17] Later, the humanitarian reasons
invoked in the pardon were contradicted by another medical expert opinion.[18] Another controversial pardon was that
of Dan Tartaga businessman from Braov that, while drunk, had run over and killed two people on a pedestrian
crossing. He was sentenced to three years and a half but was pardoned after only a couple of months.[19] Tartag was
later sentenced to a two-year sentence for fraud.[20]
Most controversial of all, on 15 December 2004, a few days before the end of his last term, Iliescu pardoned 47
convicts, including Miron Cozma, the leader of the miners during the early 1990s, who had been sentenced in 1999 to
18 years in prison in conjunction with the September 1991 Mineriad. This has attracted harsh criticism from all
Romanian media.[21] Many of the pardoned had been convicted for corruption or other economic crimes, while one had
been imprisoned for his involvement in the attempts at suppressing the 1989 Revolution.[21]

Decorating Vadim Tudor[edit]

In the last days of his President mandate, he awarded the National Order Steaua Romniei (rank of ceremonial
knighthood) to the ultra-nationalist controversial politician Corneliu Vadim Tudor, a gesture which drew criticism in the

press and prompted Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, fifteen Radio Free
Europejournalists, Timioara mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu, songwriter Alexandru Andrie, and historian Randolph
Braham to return their Romanian honours in protest. The leader of Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, Bla
Mark, did not show up to claim the award he received on the same occasion. The then current president, Traian
Bsescu, revoked the award granted to Tudor on 24 May 2007, but a lawsuit is ongoing even after Bsescu's decree
was declared constitutional.[22]

Black sites[edit]
Ion Iliescu is mentioned in the report of the Council of Europe investigator into illegal activities of the CIA in
Europe, Dick Marty. He is pointed out as one of the people who authorized or at least knew about and have to stand
accountable for torture prisons at Mihail Koglniceanu airbase from 2003 to 2005.[23] In April 2015, Iliescu confirmed
that he had granted a CIA request for a site in Romania, but was not aware of the nature of the site, describing it as a
small gesture of goodwill to an ally in advance of Romania's eventual accession to NATO. Iliescu further stated that
had he known of the intended use of the site, he would certainly not have approved the request.[24]

Awards[edit]

The Order "The Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic First Class" (Ordinul
Steaua Republicii Socialiste Romnia clasa I) (1971)[25]

Iliescu was awarded with Azerbaijani Istiglal Order for his contributions to
development of Azerbaijan-Romania relations and strategic cooperation
between the states by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 6 October 2004.
[26]

Estonia: Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana

Slovakia: Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double
Cross (2002)[27]

Croatia: Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav ("For
outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and development cooperation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Romania." - 12
May 2003)

Italy: Knight Grand Cross with Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit of the
Italian Republic - 15 October 2003[28]

Poland: Order of the White Eagle (2003)

Romania: Emblema de Onoare a Armatei Romniei ("The Romanian
Army's Badge of Honor") - 24 October 2012[29]

Serbia and Montenegro: Order of the Yugoslav Star (2004)[30]

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ "De ce nu a avut Ion Iliescu urmasi", Ziua, 5 September 2008

2.

^ Jump up to:a b c New York Times, "Upheaval in the East: A Rising Star; A Man Who
Could Become Rumania's Leader", 23 December 1989, p. 15

3.

Jump up^ Romnia Liber. "Gura lumii despre Romnia", 8 May 1990,
quoting Paris Match

4.

^ Jump up to:a b c Sebetsyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet
Empire. New York City: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-375-42532-2.

5.

Jump up^ "Preda: Antonescu l secondeaz pe Vadim Tudor cu discursul

ultranaionalist". Realitatea. Retrieved 28 December 2012.

6.

Jump up^ "Article". SF Bay Times. Retrieved 28 December 2012.

7.

Jump up^ "House of Tudor". PBS. Retrieved 28 December 2012.

8.

Jump up^ "Al Cincilea Iliescu". Income Magazine. Retrieved 28 December 2012.

9.

Jump up^ Russian dissident who copied the Gorbachev Foundation's archive:
Mitterrand and Gorbachev wanted the European Socialist Union, Thatcher opposed
Germany's reunification

10. Jump up^ (Romanian) Dovada Bukovski

11. Jump up^ Constantin Petre. "Mineriadele anului 1990, democraia sub bte". EVZ.
Retrieved 28 December 2012.
12. Jump up^ "Minerii au terorizat Capitala". Romania Libera. Retrieved 28
December 2012.
13. Jump up^ Baleanu, V. G. The Enemy Within: The Romanian Intelligence Service in
Transition. January 1995. Conflict Studies Research Centre, The Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst: Camberley, Surrey GU15 4PQ.
14. Jump up^ Deletant, Dennis. "Chapter 25: The Security Services since 1989:
Turning over a new leaf." 2004. Carey, Henry F., ed. Romania since 1989: politics,
economics, and society. Lexington Books: Oxford. pp. 507-510.
15. Jump up^ (Romanian) Presedintele Ion Iliescu a acordat gratieri
16. Jump up^ Romania's president to cancel pardon, pledges to fight corruption
17. Jump up^ (Romanian)Colaboratorii presedintelui. Opinii - de Octavian PALER
18. Jump up^ (Romanian) Gratierea lui Iliescu miroase suspect de la o posta
19. Jump up^ (Romanian) [1] Ambasada SUA: Nu a inceput anchetarea puscasului
marin] (in the background section)
20. Jump up^ (Romanian) Afacere imobiliara cu iz de TBC la Brasov (in the
background section)
21. ^ Jump up to:a b (Romanian) Gratiatii lui Iliescu-Nastase: corupti, tilhari, violatori,
tepari
22. Jump up^ (Romanian) Curtea Constituional a respins excepia invocat de Vadim
Tudor in procesul privind Ordinul "Steaua Romaniei"
23. Jump up^ Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (7 June 2007). "Secret
detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member
states: second report" (PDF). Parliamentary Assembly. Council of Europe.
Retrieved 11 March 2011.
24. Jump up^ Verseck, Keno (2015-04-22). "Folter in Rumnien: Ex-Staatschef Iliescu
gibt Existenz von CIA-Gefngnis zu" [Torture in Romania: Former Head of State

Iliescu Acknowledges Existence of CIA Prison]. Der Spiegel (in German). Hamburg,
Germany: Spiegel-Verlag. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
25. Jump up^ "Decretul nr. 157/1971 privind conferirea unor ordine ale Republicii
Socialiste Romnia" (in Romanian). Retrieved June 13, 2014.
26. Jump up^ "on liyeskonun "stiqlal" ordeni il tltif edilmsi haqqnda
AZRBAYCAN RESPUBLKASI PREZDENTNN FRMANI" [Order of the
President of Azerbaijan Republic on awarding President of Romania Ion Iliescu with
Istiglal Order]. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
27. Jump up^ Slovak republic website, State honours: 1st Class in 2002 (click on
"Holders of the Order of the 1st Class White Double Cross" to see the holders'
table)
28. Jump up^ Quirinale web site
29. Jump up^ "Iliescu si Constantinescu au primit Emblema de Onoare a Armatei" (in
Romanian). Retrieved 24 October 2012.
30. Jump up^ Odlikovanja akom i kapom at Blic, 9-9-2004 (Serbian)

Further reading[edit]

Vladimir Alexe Ion Iliescu - biografia secret: "Candidatul manciurian" (Ion

Iliescu - The Secret Biography: "The Manchurian Candidate") (in Romanian),
published by Ziaristi Online, 2000; ISBN 973-581-036-0

The supplement dedicated to Iliescu (in Romanian), published by Academia

Ca avencu, 22 December 2004

(Romanian) Ion Iliescu official biography at the Wayback Machine (archived 21

External links[edit]
October 2004)

(Romanian) Ion Iliescu's blog

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WorldCat Identities

VIAF: 59528
LCCN: n94115165
ISNI: 0000 0001 1019 7220
GND: 119288818
SUDOC: 030718465
BNF: cb122078449 (data)
NKC: jn19990003887

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