Chingiz Aitmatov' s diplomatic career began when he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Soviet Union to Luxembourg in 1990. This appointment surprised a tremendous amount of readers, politicians and diplomats, writers, and literary critics. The classic of Soviet literature did not have sufficient credentials for that high diplomatic position. For instance, he did not have any diplomatic education, did not speak any foreign language. So, the issue requires an explanation. There it is. The Soviet authorities have been adamant that Chingiz Aitmatov has all means to begin his diplomatic career at that moment. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been cardinally changing its foreign policy course seeking worldwide acceptance by creating a new positive image. The writer was the best candidate for that matter. Firstly, he possessed worldwide fame as the most distinguished writer-communist and the founder and spiritual leader of the world intellectual movement. Secondly, he had been the best example for the success of the Soviet national policy having the origin of minuscule Kyrgyz ail. Aitmatov also had been a member of numerous committees of international cinema festivals as the Chairman of the Cinema Union of Kyrgyzstan SSR. In addition, he has been an active member of the Afro-Asian writers' Association and received Lotus literary prize in 1988. Based on that ground, Soviet authorities believed that Aitmatov could lead the new course of the country's foreign policy in the western direction. Yes, there are a lot of possibilities to change the foreign policy course of such a colossal country as the Soviet Union in such a small country as Luxembourg.
Aitmatov himself explained his appointment much more simply. He concluded that his duties as an adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev required too much time and effort." After two or three years, I had the idea that this could not continue any longer, that I needed a place that would allow me to concentrate on writing. I thought about a diplomatic post in a small country and discussed this issue with Mikhail Sergeyevich",- wrote Aitmatov.
Thus, Aitmatov' s personal needs and the diplomatic interests of the Soviet Union – the colossus on feet of clay, crumbled into small and large fragments very soon intersected. Although, in my purely personal opinion, there is a possibility that, possessing the wisdom and prophecy of a seer, Aitmatov stepped aside at the right time not to be buried under these mere fragments.
The next stage of Aitmatov' s astonishing diplomatic career was then serving as the ambassador of the Russian Federation (emphasis added by me), the successor and heir to the foreign property of the Soviet Union and its diplomatic representatives in the Benelux countries, from 1992 to 1994. Some biographical sources do not contain information about this period. They indicate that Aitmatov became the ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to the Benelux countries and France, as well as the Permanent Representative from Kyrgyzstan to NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The writer was the Ambassador of Russia for only two years, so it is difficult to do anything outstanding in such a short time. Although, something did happen: first, a diplomatic incident when Chingiz Aitmatov, as an ambassador of the Russian Federation in Luxembourg, represented the interests of Kyrgyzstan in NATO; secondly, he received the Alexander Men International Prize as best Russian writer for the popularization of Russian language abroad.
To be continued...