Word: dubs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...political tragedy of Czechoslovakia has turned into an intensely human drama that centers on Alexander Dubček, the architect of the country's short-lived "springtime of freedom." As one of the few courageous reformers in Communist history, Dubček sought, in his words, to give Communism "a human face...
After he engineered the ouster of longtime President and Party Boss Antonin Novotny in early 1968, Dubček launched a series of reforms that evoked the cheers not only of Czechoslovaks but of people throughout the rest of the East Bloc as well. Among other things, he ended press censorship, encouraged artistic freedom in films and literature, drew up plans to make the National Assembly a truly representative body, and allowed criticism within the party. He also started to liberalize the country's calcified economy. "Since the party cannot change the people," Dubček declared, "it must...
...last important diplomatic problem between Prague and Ankara involved the divided island of Cyprus, and Dubček's predecessor settled that last summer by agreeing to stop the flow of Czechoslovak arms to the government of Archbishop Makarios. In other words, as far as the Soviet-dominated government in Prague is concerned, Dubček's main job in Ankara is to rusticate. He is doing his best to comply. But after more than three months of keeping a profile low enough to step on, Dubček remains the Turkish capital's star diplomatic attraction...
Their elders do. Dubček's press secretary has curtly turned down every request for an interview, usually with the snapped words: "I have no instructions." Dubček, when introduced to journalists at social occasions, prefaces most conversations with a warning: "What I say must not be considered an interview." On my visit to Ankara, while passing the gate of the plain, brownish gray building that serves as the chancellery of the Czechoslovak embassy, I happened to see Dubček come out of his residence next door. He smiled when I wished him good morning...
...surprisingly, Dubčček is seen most often with Soviet Ambassador Vasily Grubyakov, whom he visited even before presenting his credentials to President Cevdet Sunay. "That call," said one observer, "was his real presentation of credentials...