Editing Jonathan Motzfeldt

{{Short description|Greenlandic politician (1938–2010)}}
{{Weasel|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox Prime Minister
| name            = Jonathan Motzfeldt
| image           = Jonathan Motzfeldt 2003.jpg
| caption         = Motzfeldt in 2003
| office1         = 1st [[Prime Minister of Greenland]]
| term_start1     = 19 September 1997
| term_end1       = 14 December 2002
| monarch1        = [[Margrethe II of Denmark|Margrethe II]]
| predecessor1    = [[Lars Emil Johansen]]
| successor1      = [[Hans Enoksen]]
| term_start2     = 1 May 1979
| term_end2       = 18 March 1991
| monarch2        = [[Margrethe II of Denmark|Margrethe II]]
| predecessor2    = [[Hans Lassen]]<br>''as Governor''
| successor2      = [[Lars Emil Johansen]]
|
| office3              = Member of the Landsting for Nanortalik
| term_start3        = 1 May 1979
| term_end3         = 2 June 2009
| predecessor3    = Position Established
| successor3        = Anders Olsen
| birth_date      = 25 September 1938
| birth_place     = [[Qassimiut|Qagssimiut]], [[South Greenland]]
| death_date      = 28 October 2010 (aged 72)
| death_place     = [[Qaqortoq]], [[Kujalleq]], Greenland
|citizenship      = [[Danish citizen|Kingdom of Denmark]]
|nationality      = [[Greenlanders|Greenlandic]]
| spouse          = {{marriage|Kristjana Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir|1992}}
| children        = 2 
| party           = [[Forward (Greenland)|Siumut]]
| relations       =
| alma_mater      = [[University of Copenhagen]]
| occupation      = Priest, politician
| religion        =
}}

'''Jonathan Jakob Jørgen Otto Motzfeldt''' (25 September 1938 – 28 October 2010<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bt.dk/politik/jonathan-motzfeldt-er-doed|title= Jonathan Motzfeldt er død |date=28 October 2010|publisher=[[B.T. (tabloid)|BT]] |language = Danish}}</ref>) was a [[Greenland|Greenlandic]] [[priest]] and politician. He is considered one of the leading figures in the establishment of [[Greenland Home Rule]].<ref name="auto1">[http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/29999_greenland_mourns_politician_jonathan_motzfeldt/ Greenland mourns politician Jonathan Motzfeldt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208141916/http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/29999_greenland_mourns_politician_jonathan_motzfeldt/ |date=2015-12-08 }}, nunatsiaqonline.ca, October 29, 2010</ref> Jonathan Motzfeldt was the first [[prime minister of Greenland]]. He was Greenland's prime minister from 1979 until 1991 and 1997 until 2002. He is Greenland's longest-serving prime minister and won the most elections of any Greenlandic Prime Minister. He is considered a centre-left politician and Greenland became a recognized country during his tenure.

==Personal life==
Jonathan "Junnuk" Motzfeldt was born in 1938 in the settlement of [[Qassimiut]] in southern Greenland as son to the [[hunter]] Søren Motzfeldt (1902-1984) and his wife Kirsten Klemmensen (1904-1979).<ref>[http://www.akj-cbj.dk/html/fam067xx/fam06741.htm  Familien Søren Motzfeldt/Kirsten Klemmensen] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815143600/http://www.akj-cbj.dk/html/fam067xx/fam06741.htm |date=2015-08-15 }}, akj-cbj.dk</ref>

After his teacher's exam at ''Ilinniarfissuaq'' (Greenland College) in [[Nuuk]] in 1960, he studied [[theology]] at the [[University of Copenhagen]] until 1966, subsequently working as a pastor in [[Qaqortoq]], Greenland until 1979.<ref name="auto1"/><ref>[http://sermitsiaq.ag/jonathan-motzfeldts-datter-ikke-far-aldrig Jonathan Motzfeldts datter: Jeg er ikke min far og bliver det aldrig], sermitsiaq.ag, November 18, 2014</ref>

In 1992, Jonathan Motzfeldt married Kristjana Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir (born 1951) from Iceland. They had no children.<ref name="auto2"/> However, from a previous partnership with Margit Kock Petersen, he had two children: Karen Motzfeldt (born 1966) and Claus Motzfeldt (born 1969).<ref>[http://agerbaeks.dk/slaegt/html/fam005xx/fam00531.htm ''Familien Jonathan Jørgen Jacob Otto Motzfeldt/Margit Kock Petersen''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304101651/http://agerbaeks.dk/slaegt/html/fam005xx/fam00531.htm |date=2016-03-04 }}, agerbaeks.dk</ref><ref>[http://sermitsiaq.ag/farvel-far Farvel far], sermitsiaq.ag, November 5, 2010, </ref> Greenlandic handball player Hans Peter Motzfeldt-Kyed is Motzfeldt's nephew.

==Political career==
Already in the mid-1950s, Jonathan Motzfeldt started his battle for Greenland's autonomy with a group of young Inuit activists.<ref name="auto2"/> In the early 1970s Motzfeldt became involved in the social democratic independence movement [[Siumut]]. After having placed himself at the forefront of the political emancipation process that Greenland's population began in earnest in the early 1970s, Motzfeldt became synonymous with the Greenland Home Rule. He secured almost absolute power through a series of political purges, where old comrades like [[Lars Emil Johansen]], Moses Olsen, Lars Chemnitz, and Emil Abelsen were sidelined.
 
In 1977 he was elected Chairman of the Siumut party for the first time. In addition, he served as [[List of Speakers of the Inatsisartut|Speaker]] of the Greenland [[Parliament of Greenland|Landsting]] from 1979 to 1988, in 1997, and from 2002 to 2008.<ref name="parliamentguide">{{Cite web |url=https://ina.gl/media/2526841/d-inatsisartut-website-inatsisartutgl-media-35028-rundvisning-i-inatsisartut-kl_da_en-a5-web.pdf |title=Guided Tour of Inatsisartut |access-date=2019-03-27 |archive-date=2023-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328152137/https://ina.gl/media/2526841/d-inatsisartut-website-inatsisartutgl-media-35028-rundvisning-i-inatsisartut-kl_da_en-a5-web.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

On 1 May 1979, Jonathan Motzfeldt became the first [[prime minister|Prime Minister]] of Greenland. He led the government for almost twelve years until 18 March 1991, when he was forced to resign and leave politics because of a drinking problem.<ref name="auto2">[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/world/europe/30motzfeldt.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0 ''J. Motzfeldt, Ex-Premier Hailed as a Pillar of Greenland, Dies at 72''], nytimes.com, OCT. 29, 2010</ref> However, he was awarded several key positions in the publicly owned portion of Greenland's economy. The post of Prime Minister thereafter went to [[Lars Emil Johansen]]. Due in part, but not exclusively, to the latter's alcoholism, Motzfeldt took the post of Prime Minister again in 1997. He held this post until 2002 when he was forced to call new elections because of serious criticism from the parliament (the [[Landsting (Greenland)|Landsting]]) of management of the Home Rule's economy. [[Unilingual]] party fellow [[Hans Enoksen]] was elected Prime Minister of Greenland on December 14, 2002. [[Josef Motzfeldt|Josef "Tuusi" Motzfeldt]], the leader of [[Inuit Ataqatigiit|IA]], became deputy prime minister in the new government.<ref>[http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/nunavut021213/news/nunavut/21213_04.html Unilingual Inuk becomes Greenland’s new premier] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729135033/http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/nunavut021213/news/nunavut/21213_04.html |date=2012-07-29 }}, nunatsiaqonline.ca, December 13, 2002</ref>

Jonathan Motzfeldt was then again elected chairman of the Greenlandic parliament. His last political year were marked by renewed alcohol abuse and uncontrolled expenses on travel and representation. {{Citation needed|date=August 2015}}
[[File:Jonathan Motzfeldt BogForum Forum Copenhagen.JPG|thumbnail|Jonathan Motzfeldt at a book fair in Copenhagen in November 2008.]]
Mr. Motzfeldt resigned as speaker of Greenland's Parliament on 18 January 2008 amid allegations that he had groped a female civil servant who reported him to the police. Motzfeldt denied wrongdoing. The case was subsequently dropped, without charges.<ref name="auto2"/> Fellow party member [[Ruth Heilmann]] became his successor as speaker of the parliament.

In the spring of 2009, Motzfeldt was hit by a major scandal involving the abuse of public funds for private purposes. The newspaper AG documented that up to 2008 he had let the government pay for private dinners. Also, it was the public purse that paid when the former Prime Minister consumed large amounts of alcohol. The scandal culminated when he briefly before parliamentary elections in June 2009 was denied boarding a helicopter in Qaqortoq due to intoxication. He was not re-elected in the parliamentary elections on 2 June 2009. {{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}

==Death==
Motzfeldt died on 28 October 2010, aged 72, from a cerebral hemorrhage.<ref name="auto2" /> At the time of his death Motzfeldt was the president of the [[West Nordic Council]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Rejser,_geografi_og_historie/Gr%C3%B8nland/Gr%C3%B8nlands_samfund,_kultur_og_historie/Jonathan_Motzfeldt Gyldendal encyclopedia entry]

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{{s-off}}
{{s-new|reason=Greenland granted home rule}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of Greenland]]|years=1979–1991}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Lars Emil Johansen]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Lars Emil Johansen]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of Greenland]]|years=1997–2002}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hans Enoksen]]}}
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{{Prime Minister of Greenland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motzfeldt, Jonathan}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Greenlandic politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Inuit people]]
[[Category:21st-century Greenlandic politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Inuit people]]
[[Category:Greenlandic Inuit people]]
[[Category:Inuit politicians]]
[[Category:People from Kujalleq]]
[[Category:Siumut politicians]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of Greenland]]
[[Category:Chairmen of the Parliament of Greenland]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of Nersornaat]]