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

Romanian Communist Party

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 Ceau escu'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 Ceau escu 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 co-operation 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 0-37542532-2.

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: ExStaatschef 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: SpiegelVerlag. 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]

External links[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 October 2004)

(Romanian) Ion Iliescu's blog

[show]

Heads of state of Romania

[show]

Presidents of the Social Democratic Party

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

Categories:

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Republic
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