A lot of countries are
currently fighting a war within their own territories ranging from Middle East
to South Asia. One such turmoil-hit place, in the last few months has been
Ukraine. With the impeachment of their President Viktor Yanukovych and new announced elections, an important contender running
for the President is a well known face in Ukraine-Yulia Tymoshenko. Other than
her unique golden braid that she wears like a crown around her head, her entire
life is an entity much talked about.
Born in 1960, an
economist and engineer by profession, later turned out to be a successful
business woman and made a huge fortune from her now defunct corporation United
Energy Systems Ukraine(UESU) .It was in 1990 that she decided of entering
politics. She led the Orange Revolution
in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, which were a series of protests from November2004
to January 2005 against the Presidential elections believed to be rigged. It
was in the same year that she was named to be the third most powerful woman in
the world by Forbes. Since then, she has been actively involved in the
country’s politics and leads the All Ukrainian Union “Fatherland”, the leading
opposition party of Ukraine. Her party is in strong support of Ukraine
integrating with the European Union rather than with the Customs Union with
Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
She has held the post
of Prime Minister in her country twice before. Amidst the continuing protests
and tensions she was announced a 7 year imprisonment in relation to cases of ‘abuse
of power’ during her tenure and other corruption charges concerning a gas
contract with Russia and now with Yanukovych ousted from power and her being
released from her imprisonment after 2.5 years, has announced her candidature
for the presidential elections. On the point of worldwide opinions about her
stature, she has always had a whole lot of influential people from the Western community
(US and EU included) vouching for her; reiterating the significance of justice
and independent judicial procedures
in Ukraine. Among other supporters is Leonid
Kuchma, second president of Ukraine in whose words
“She is the only man in the Ukrainian politics”.
In the words of Eugenia, Yulia’s daughter who had been giving interviews
all this time her mother was in imprisonment to keep the fight going ,” My mother had a lot of
responsibility to bring change to Ukraine but she did not have sufficient
instruments to bring it through and had to focus on problems with the economy." It is yet to be proved whether she is
guilty of charges she faces or merely a victim of her situation; however it is
impossible to deny and brush aside the powerful contribution and role that she
has played in her country’s revival and struggles. Her willpower, energy and
her fighting spirit are in huge ways inspirational to woman all across the
world. President or no President-she still remains a Leader who holds the
strength to influence and make considerable change in the state of politics of
Ukraine a nation which is looking forward to a new beginning.
By Aastha Kapoor
References:
1. “Eugenia
Tymoshenko: the fight to save my mother Yulia”, Tim Bouquet, The Observer, Sep
23, 2014.
2. “Is
Tymoshenko guilty or a victim?”, Zu Hongenn, China Daily, Feb 25,2014.
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