Heads Of Government

"What about Black Girls? With German-Turkish boys? What about us? For a long time I didn't even dare to dream certain things because they seemed presumptuous. Dreaming is not about something being realistic. It's about dreaming what you imagine for yourself, for the world, for your environment, for your family. And anyone who has to limit themselves when dreaming is not free or equal.”"

"“Dreaming is not about something being realistic. It's about dreaming what you imagine for yourself, for the world, for the environment, for your family. And anyone who has to limit themselves when dreaming is not free or equal.”"

"In Mali they immediately recognized that we didn't grow up there,"

"“It's not about one minority person making it and then everything is achieved. It's about how we can have the same dreams, say them out loud without anyone laughing. Laughs because he or she knows that this is a dream that cannot be had. How ready would this society be for a black woman on the board of a DAX company? For a black chancellor? We often talk about glass ceilings for women."

"We must continue to strengthen women leaders in their capacities, so that they can be present at the negotiation tables and contribute to reflecting this very important gender dimension in peace agreements."

"“I am looking forward to the new campaign for the nationwide elections for children and youth representatives in Schleswig-Holstein this autumn. With regard to young people, I have one request: continue to be involved, get involved directly, and actively shape your future! There are already almost 80 children's and youth committees in Schleswig-Holstein. In terms of population, this is the highest in the country. But let's get even better! Every generation has the opportunity and the task to change society to some extent for the better."

"“I grew up with a critical view of state institutions, but always with the awareness that I could make them better.”"

"“Maybe if it weren’t for racism in society, I wouldn’t have been in the front row.”"

"International Women's Day is more relevant than ever this year! Right-wing movements, especially the AfD, question feminist achievements. We Greens are resolutely opposed to this. We cannot do a right-wing “roll back” against the promotion of women, gender and equality. On the contrary, we continue to fight resolutely for equality, diversity and tolerance. We firmly oppose the attempt by racists to exploit the women's movement and queer commitment. We fight to ensure that all people can live their gender identity without restrictions."

"Among other things. I believe that women often have to invest more in parties than men because they are in the minority. That scares you again. Many social groups are not involved in politics because they simply cannot afford to invest so much time. Personally, I don't have the impression that I had to give up much for political work, but that I actually gained a lot from the opportunity to do politics. Basically, in the political world, both women and men have to be able to endure a lot, for example being hostile for the positions they represent."

"I've always found politics exciting,"

"No one has the right today to set conditions for Ukraine, that we ought to surrender part of our territory in exchange for the withdrawal from our country of someone carrying around dirty weapons."

"Every person throughout his or her life tries to pursue some kind of ideal. Everybody sees different ideals. Some want to make big money. Others want to make a career in science hoping to make a unique discovery for mankind."

"And things get to me sometimes, because like anyone else I, too, feel disillusioned at times. And then there are the insults... But I can endure all these things if there is a goal that is much higher than engaging in some kind of personal vendettas. Even exhaustion I can endure."

"I can't cry. It's my character."

"I want people who follow politics to understand that in politics everything is structured. Your political opponent hires experts, analysts, those people who shed a negative light on the other side."

"I feel like the luckiest woman in the world when I am with my family. But lately this happens so rarely that I more often feel like a well-tuned machine that makes decisions and enforces them. I spend very little time on that which you call a personal life."

"This is a great battle for our territory and our freedom. It’s a historic chance for the free world to kill this evil."

"I want to see results; I have few minutes to waste."

"Today everyone is fighting for private interests."

"You know I dream of this unique moment when you get some sort of a bonus for defending your country's interests."

"No one can tell us from the outside, especially the aggressor country, how we should build our lives, how we should form our constitution, how we should build the government of our country and the management of our army."

"And power, as always, is seen as a trampoline to do big business, to straddle sources of finance."

"The other aspect of the conflict is, and here you are absolutely right, that we have people in power who have different goals despite being part of the same team. Some of them have come to power with very clear business interests."

"I believe in Latvia and the potential of our people."

"Collaborating to solve your country's energy future is what we all should be doing."

"I am confident that, thanks to joint efforts, friendly relations between Turkmenistan and the United Kingdom, based on the principles of mutual understanding, equality and trust, will continue to develop for the happy future for both peoples."

"Wealth is not necessarily accumulated at the expense of public interest and the needy."

"Both the President and the government of the Russian Federation are unable to clearly understand the situation and the imminent dangers. They don't care whether the state collapses; they only care about the upcoming Russian presidential and parliamentary elections."

"We are well-prepared for this summer and autumn. And in view of the mood among our fighters, I can tell you that the situation will undergo a radical change. After the referendum, the activities of the resistance units sharply increased."

"Don't expect anything good from the puppets and enemies. The day will soon come when the occupation forces will leave Chechnya."

"We are going through hard times now. The enemy is within us but it is invisible. We are one nation, we have one religion but there is no accord between us."

"What reliable information can a traitor who has only completed two years of high-school education provide?"

"Chechen mujahedin will resist to the end in this struggle, and the flame of this conflagration will spread to the entire North Caucasus."

"Like most Chechens of his generation, Maskhadov was born in exile in Kazakhstan, where Chechens had been deported en masse in 1944 under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The exile added fuel to Chechens’ resentment of Russians."

"As a politician, he was extremely weak, extremely distrustful, very dependent on the intrigues of people surrounding him."

"In 1945 you defeated the evils of militarism, fascism and Nazism. Those nations among you that had given birth to the monstrous juggernaut and holocaust of world war, vowed never to repeat the same fatal errors and forged yourselves in a new spirit to stand proudly among the elder democracies."

"Out of a population that once numbered a million, one in seven Chechens is now dead. 250,000 of our civilians are refugees. Bereft of the most basic necessities, many are ravaged by disease and malnutrition, especially the elderly and the young. More than 20,000 civilians and resistance members endure imprisonment in the new Gulags, the so-called filtration camps. Held in dehumanizingly foul and primitive conditions with little or no medical care that far exceed the worst standards of the Russian penal system, life in the improvised camps sees the sadistic and systematic use of torture. Burning with cigarettes, crippling beatings, suffocation, drowning in human excrement, mutilation with knives, high voltage electric shock and sexual abuses are only some of the common practices. Many prisoners are ultimately killed. Surely for some this must be a welcome deliverance from hell."

"The savagery we must bear is not new. We remember Stalin’s salt mines, his guard towers, barbed wire and unmarked graves. The pain of exodus and genocide we have known before. So we recognise the others with whom we share a terrible kinship of horror. The skeletal Jews and Romani in the ovens of Dachau and Auschwitz. The bayonet fodder of Nanjing. The ancient, wide-eyed children of Biafra. The pleading mother and baby facing the rifles at My Lai. The marsh Arabs of Iraq choked by the clouds of mustard gas. The Tutsi of Rwanda butchered on the Kigali road by the knives of the Interahamwe. They are all our martyred brothers and sisters in the legacy of senseless murder. Only our slaughter, our death is not yesterday’s, it belongs in the living nightmare of the present. How many Chechens will have died in the time you take to read this letter?"

"Beyond the confines of my tiny country, my words seem to count for little, just as the anguished cry of my people still astonishingly leaves you mute and deaf. So I will continue to write until the silence is pierced."

"You will soon gather in Genoa amidst the splendor and ceremony that befits your place in the front rank of nations. Guards of honour will salute you, you will meet in palaces and the world will listen to your every word. But I write you from a killing ground putrid with slaughter and like my brethren I remain a hunted man in my own country. I too won the privilege and responsibility of leading my nation from the ballot box, but Moscow calls me a bandit, a terrorist and a criminal."

"You will join in your summit to consider debt relief for the impoverished developing world. This is a laudable aim, and it is the hope no doubt of countless millions that humanitarian concern motivates the strong to seek an end to indentured misery for the weak. But if you acknowledge the quiet violence of poverty upon the destitute and the hungry why do you turn away from us? We who die in the flames of the Kremlin’s dirty war, are we less worthy of compassion? What has made us invisible to you? I fear I know the answer. I fear the cold exigencies of realpolitik ensure your inaction and seal our fate. Lest you damage an uncertain relationship with a fragile and volatile new Russia, you are willing to overlook the annihilation of my people. In your eyes, for the sake of larger interests we are an expendable nation."

"If you continue to stand idly by while my people vanish in a bloodbath, if you fail to act with conviction and resolve as you did in Rwanda, Chechen ghosts will stain your honour as surely as they do Russia’s. May God grant you the wisdom and vision to serve the cause of peace and justice."

"There was also the religious factor. As a military man I knew the capacity of the Russian army. When a Russian column was advancing and you had no proper ammunitions left and you were waiting for them to move 200 or 300 meters to destroy them and you succeeded – these were miracles. That was when the religious factor came into play. You began to believe that the outcome was in the hands of God."

"When the interests of Western states and those of Russia collide in the Caucasus, when the leaders of those Western states comprehend the level of danger to the entire civilized world that emanates from Russia, then they will line up and beg us Chechens to agree to end the war."

"If reason triumphs among our Kremlin opponents, we can end this war at the negotiating table. If not, then most likely blood will be spilled for a long time to come but we will not be morally responsible for the continuation of this madness."

"I will not call for talks with the Russian leadership any more because it's senseless."

"The people of Russia will experience constant fear of possible retribution by suicide bombers in revenge for the evil deeds of the [Federal Security Service] and the federal forces in Chechnya."

"I, Aslan Maskhadov, the democratically elected President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, write this desperate appeal in the name of my people, the victims of a genocidal war whose daily murder has yet to awaken the conscience of the world you lead. We are as wretched, bloody and enslaved as you are rich, mighty and free."

"These are not people with whom we can hold talks. Maskhadov does not control the situation and, more importantly, he’s a terrorist. No country in the world is willing to deal with terrorists."