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EESTI ELU reedel, 13. märtsil 2020 — Friday, March 13, 2020
Nr. 10
30 years from the convening of the Congress of Estonia
English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publications Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca Digital: www.eestielu.ca
Russia’s new dual citizenships – a concern for the West? In Russia, pending legislation probably will result in simp lifying the attainment of Russian citizenship. Namely, applicants will not have to renounce their existing citi zenship. It’s expected that those app lying, mainly Russian-speakers abroad, would not have to fulfill continuous residency requirements, a stipulation for most countries. Countries with sizeable Russian expats are concerned about the understanding of the changes by ultra-nationalists such as State Duma member Konstantin Zatulin who would actively promote the issuing of Russian passports to the millions of ethnic Russians already in foreign countries. This population is estimated to be approximately 30,000,000. He said, “Millions of our fellow Russians abroad want Russian citizenship, if they don’t have to abandon their foreign pass.” This would add some 10 million more citizens to the Russian current total. Observers say that the Rus sian speaking community of separatist controlled and Rus sian-backed part of eastern Ukraine would be the main object of the changes to existing citizenship legislation. This exposes the Kremlin’s motivation for this. One is reminded of Putin’s dismissal of the West’s protest after Russian troops, disguised as local Ukrainian residents attacked Eastern Ukraine in 2014. Russia’s military occupation of the area and armed conflict continues to this day. Putin: “I would like to make it clear to all: This country will continue to actively defend the rights of Russians, our com patriots abroad, using the entire range of available means – from political and economic to operations under humanitarian law and the right to self-defense.” He continued: “When I speak of Russians and Russian speaking citizens I am referring to those people who consider themselves part of the broad Russian community, they may not necessarily be ethnic Rus sians, but they consider themselves Russian people.” He widened his scope of Russia’s “God-given” responsi-
bilities: “What did our partners expect from us? We clearly had no right to abandon the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol to the mercy of nationalist and radical militants (??? ed.). We could not allow our access to the Baltic Sea to be significantly limited; we could not allow NATO forces to eventually come … to the land of Russian military glory… This would mean giving up practically everything that Russia had fought for since the times of Peter the Great, or maybe even earlier – historians should know.” In 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia in South Ossetia, Rus sia claimed it was acting fully within its rights in defending its citizens. Moscow claimed its people were facing genocide. (??? ed.) Russia described its military attack as either a “peace-enforcement operation” or a “humanitarian intervention” depending on the context of its justifications. The Krem lin hadn’t yet decided which explanation could satisfy the West more. Since the Georgia invasion has gone practically unchallenged it seems that the West has accepted both explanations as reasonable. In 2018 the Kremlin repeated its continuing determination to intervene internationally using any capability at its disposal. According to Putin, Russopho bia as well as other “aggressive nationalism” are challenges that Moscow has to face. “History is being rewritten and a battle is being fought against monuments and the Russian language.” That comment could very well have been targeted at Esto nia’s relocation of a Soviet era monument to a military cemetery in 2007, that prompted a full-blown cyber-attack against Estonia. The Russian language comment may well have been a reference for Estonia’s intention to retain Estonian as the official language of the country and to have it eventually be the prime language of all government supported schools. Private schools to be free to choose their language of instruction. (to be continued) LAAS LEIVAT
Delegates at the first session can be seen, from Toronto: Reet Roman-Metsmaa, Reet Marten-Sehr, Markus Hess, Toomas Trei, Laas Leivat, Hans Lupp, Tönu Parming, Ülo Tamre. Missing – Walter Pent.
Tunne Kelam, former Member of the Congress of Estonia March 11, 2020 will mark the 30th anniversary of the con vening of the Congress of Estonia, the democratic tran sition-time parliament repre senting Estonian citizens. This was the climax to the Citi zens’ Committees movement – the largest citizens’ initiative in Estonian history. From the spring of 1989 to February 1990, unpaid volunteers re gistered 790,000 citizens (including children) of the Republic of Estonia at home and abroad in a nation-wide grassroots action. In less than a year, hundreds of thousands of Estonian inhabi tants whom the Kremlin considered to be Soviet subjects, individually and openly signed a statement in which they declared themselves to be citizens of the Republic of Estonia. This was based on the fact that the Republic of Esto nia, which was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, continued to exist de iure. Most Western democracies never recognised the occupation of the Baltic States, members of the pre-war League of Nations, as legal. Overcoming the deep-seated fear created by Soviet terror, the Estonian citizens’ movement resulted in an authentic referendum in favor of restoration of a fully independent state, relying on international law and the principle of legal continuity. By the time the first session of the Congress of Estonia convened in March 1990, a crucial mental and political change had taken place. Instead of cherishing hopes of being granted some more economic and cultural autonomy within the framework of the Soviet Union, Estonian citizens succeeded in creating a democratic alternative to the half-hearted reforms, offered by perestroika-minded communist elites. A new paradigm of fullfledged democracy and complete independence resulted. After the first session of the Congress of Estonia, the Esto
Tunne Kelam, Chairman of the executive of the Congress of Estonia, the Estonian Committee.
nian branch of the communist party quietly melted away. The Citizens’ Committees movement relied on legal, not ethnic, principles. Among citizens of pre-occupation Estonia, there were thousands of Rus sians, Germans, Swedes, Jews and others, whose citizenship
was hereditable by their children (ius sanguinis). Simultaneously, the Citizens’ movement offered non-citizens a chance to register themselves as applicants for Estonian citizenship. For such a courageous act, they were promised an easier path to citizenship, when and if Estonian independence was restored. About 60,000 individuals applied and elected their own representatives to the Congress of Estonia. This was the beginning of inclusive national politics. The Congress of Estonia was elected in February 1990 with the presence of several international observers. Nearly 90% of the registered citizens par ticipated, the highest degree of political activity in the history of free Estonia. There were 1113 candidates for 499 seats. (Continued on page 9)
The late Jyri Kork, former NASA mathematician and advisor to the Estonian General Staff; Jüri Adams, former MP, also recognized as the main “author” of the current Estonian constitution.
From the Left: Endel Ratas, former political prisoner; Enn Tarto, former political prisoner and Member of the Estonian Parliament (MP); Mart Niklus, former political prisoner and MP; the late Mäido Kari, former president of the Estonian World Council; Mari-Ann Kelam, former MP.
