Editing Martti Ahtisaari (section)

== Youth and early career ==
[[File:4-vuotias Martti Ahtisaari.jpg|thumb|left|upright|4-year-old Ahtisaari, pictured on his birthday]]
Martti Ahtisaari was born in [[Viipuri]], 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=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]|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 [[Kotka]], Finland in 1872 from [[Tistedalen]] 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=[[Hufvudstadsbladet]]|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 [[Finnish nationality law|Finnish]] [[citizenship]] in 1929 and [[Finnicization|Finnicized]] his surname from Adolfsen in 1935.<ref name="kansalli">{{cite web|url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/634|title=Ahtisaari, Martti|website=[[Suomen kansallisbiografia]] (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 [[non-commissioned officer|NCO]] in the supply troops in Viipuri when Martti was born.<ref name=kansalli />

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.<ref name="geneologiafi">[http://www.genealogia.fi/vsk/44/v8-28.pdf President Ahtisaari's ancestors] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403003935/http://www.genealogia.fi/vsk/44/v8-28.pdf|date=3 April 2015}} a study by [[Suomen Sukututkimusseura]] (the Finnish [[genealogy]] [[society]]).</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 [[Kuopion Lyseon lukio|Kuopion Lyseo]] high school.<ref name=kansalli />

In 1952, Martti Ahtisaari moved to [[Oulu]] with his family.<ref name=kansalli /> There he continued his education in [[Oulun Lyseon Lukio|high school]], graduating in 1956.<ref name=Heikkinen2011/> He also joined the local [[YMCA]].<ref name=kansalli /> After completing his military service (Ahtisaari held the rank of [[Captain (Land)|captain]] in the [[Finnish Army]] Reserve),<ref name="Turun Sanomat">{{cite news|url=https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/6133082|title=Valtakuntien sovittelija, presidentti Martti Ahtisaari on poissa|work=[[Turun Sanomat]]|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 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.<ref name=kansalli /><ref name=britannica /> There, he also trained as a teacher.<ref name=kansalli />

He returned to Finland in 1963 and began his studies in the [[Aalto University School of Business|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]].<ref name=kansalli /> He also joined the international students' organisation [[AIESEC]].<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 [[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland)|Ministry for Foreign Affairs]]<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=[[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland)|Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland]]|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=[[Barcelona Centre for International Affairs]]|date=March 1994 |language=es}}</ref>