Parliamentary Assembly

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

Thank you, dear colleague, for that most interesting question. I would like to answer it in the following way: in your country, transition began in the times of Kadar which means that you are entering the second decade of transition while Estonia has been more successful during the two and a half years since we adopted our new constitution through our referendum. The progress made in Estonia is the most rapid progress made in central and eastern Europe. I am quite ready to admit that any transition which does not last longer than a life span will be regarded as a failure. That is not the case with Estonia.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

My dear colleague, if you visit Tallinn you will see the coat of arms of London on the house of the Black Heads. That means that, historically, Tallinn – also called Reval in old English documents – was a member of the Hanseatic League. There was a time when my capital town was the biggest town in the northern part of Europe, four centuries before Helsinki was created. We are fully aware of our unique geo-political position and even more of our submission to use our position.

I should perhaps say that I have written a book of some 500 pages about the cultural and other links of the maritime towns by the Baltic Sea. I will not go further into the details, but I am pleased to explain that one of the very first maps was drawn in a cathedral in southern England. It was a beautiful picture located just behind the altar and it depicted my town. We are perfectly aware that behind our eastern frontier there is not a state, but a continent. A continent is defined as a piece of land surrounded by sea, according to which, actually, Russia is only partly a continent. We have certain obligations to act as a collective port for the continent. That is as absolutely clear to me as it was to the merchant adventurers in the sixteenth century who, under Elizabeth, suddenly discovered Russia, to the amazement of the Russians.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

A few days ago a Finnish magazine called Suomen Kuvalehti published a very interesting article about the future of my capital town, Tallinn, and the capital town of Helsinki, linked together closely and forming something which should be regarded as a twin town only because we regard ourselves as the gateway or corridor between the west and the east.

We are perfectly aware that symbols like a gateway, a window or whatever have different political meanings. However, I would like us to see only one option before us and that is the democratic evolution of mankind. That means that we are interested in having broad international co-operation with regard to using the possibilities of the Baltic Sea which, in different times, has been called the Mediterranean of the north.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

Allow me to respond in English, Mr Moczulski. I do not think that it is a danger. Perhaps it was a danger psychologically five or seven years ago when Russians were transferred to Estonia to create a strategic Russian majority there. Before the second world war Estonia was an outspokenly homogeneous country. The Russians suddenly felt that they were losing their role as, let us say, landlords. There were some national tensions between the Estonian and Russian communities, between the Estonian identity and that of Russia – no, I would prefer to use another term – the Soviet identity, which is difficult to describe because it does not have any rules. When one meets a Russian who says that he comes from Kursk or Volga it means that one is meeting a European. The problem that we have to face is that, unfortunately, a great number of Russians are not Europeans but rather a special kind of people. In theoretical literature we call them homo sovieticus.

The democratic reality or, more simply, the very fact that the standard of living in Estonia suddenly rose rapidly to become so much higher than on the other side of the Estonian border provided us with better arguments than all the leading articles in the more than seventy daily newspapers that Estonia produces. Now we have another problem. We do not have enough Estonian kindergartens for the Russian families who would prefer to send their children to them. That means that they have suddenly realised that a democratic system, an open-market system in which human rights are guaranteed, gives them far better choices than in the world from which they have come.

I do not see the dangers that Mr Moczulski mentioned, but, of course, I am speaking about the bulk of the Russian population. For example, a special representative of Mr Zhirinovsky was recently expelled from Estonia because he argued that the Estonian Government should be overthrown by violent means. We cannot accept that.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

That is a serious problem but it has been taken into consideration. Under Estonian citizenship law we assumed that the theoretical approach of the Estonian state was that living in the state meant Estonian citizenship. That meant that citizenship was automatic but we were suddenly confronted by the fact that, in contrast to the world that we had lived in when we were occupied, we had not only Estonian citizens living in Estonia but a huge number of non-citizens who were brought by the Soviet authorities by sending the families to Siberia.

I would be dishonest if I said that this situation did not give rise to emotional reactions. There were emotional reactions among Estonians who had lost their children or parents and among Russians who suddenly became aware that they were living in houses and using furniture that did not belong to them. From the first steps we were convinced that we had to face this difficult and emotional question in a frank and honest way. We told the Russians that they must decide whether they would prefer to remain and become citizens of the federation or apply for Estonian citizenship.

As I have said, we have been successful because a considerable number of Russian citizens were not only actively involved in the last elections but were also able to form an active Russian political party. But that is only part of the answer. Mr Laakso is correct to say that a great number of ethnic Russians have not decided whether to apply for Estonian citizenship or Russian citizenship. We must understand that it is psychologically very difficult for someone who was born in the Soviet Union and has never thought that other nations have rights. That was unexpected for them and in a way they are now stranded.

They have not applied for Estonian citizenship and they are not Russian citizens. It is right to say that that poses some technical difficulties. For example, if they want to visit Finland they do not have the necessary passport. That is why we decided to provide those who need more time to make up their minds with a special document giving them the right to leave Estonia, travel abroad and then return to Estonia.

This is a question that each person must solve individually. We are not putting any pressure on people. I am sure that, if Mr Laakso is correct and the deadline is not met in July, the Estonian Parliament will take appropriate steps allowing people who have been unable to make their decision in time to make that decision. That is in the interests of Estonia and our stability.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

I cannot take responsibility for the quality of the British press.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

Mr Hughes is already invited to visit Estonia as my guest, and to decide for himself what is true and what is not. I can only tell him that the report published in yesterday’s Financial Times, according to which I was waiting for the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Kozyrev, on the doorstep, is utterly untrue. I was sitting next to a former Irish Prime Minister when Mr Kozyrev suddenly emerged, shook my hand and told me that he had never threatened to use military force against Estonia – that, indeed, he had never even mentioned Estonia.

It is a small detail, but I sometimes wonder whether journalists in Mr Hughes’ country have ever been to the place about which they write their reports and their beautiful headlines.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

We have a common history, which taught us a tragic lesson in 1939 and 1940 when, under the Hitler-Stalin agreement, the Baltic states were occupied by the Soviet Union. We hope that the profound changes that began in Russia owing to the economic collapse, which are still taking place, will result in a democratic Russia. It will be a long and painful process.

It is evident that the co-operation between the three Baltic states must be deepened. That will be the cornerstone for the development of more stability and democracy in the Baltic Sea region, and will also be beneficial for our eastern neighbour.

We shall always retain the close relations that we have historically had. Our example may be understood even better by our neighbours if three small countries achieve what they wish to achieve: a huge country may be able to achieve the same goals.

Let me stress again that Baltic co-operation must be deepened in every respect – economically, politically and in all the security fields.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

Yes. I understand that it is a complicated situation. I am convinced, however, that we can discuss the peace treaty that was signed on 2 February 1920 by the Republic of Estonia and the then Soviet Republic in two separate ways. The treaty is essential because, through it, Estonia became subject to international law. It is our birth certificate. We shall never abandon it.

The territories that were seized by Mr Stalin in 1944 and 1945 represented about 5% of the pre-war Estonian territory. They can be handled differently without losing the legal quality of the peace treaty. We would have preferred another solution. It is a reality, however, that the borders in post-war Europe have been changed considerably. Finland, for example, lost its best territory in southern Finland. I refer to the historic winter war. Poland lost a considerable part of its eastern territory. I shall not go further.

The borders of Europe have been adopted and they are regarded as borders forever. They can, however, be changed at the conference table, but not otherwise. The fact that there were other borders before the second world war is not a sufficient argument for discussions at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, for example.

In broad terms, I have set out the principles that could be used to start real negotiations with the Russian Federation so that the border question is solved once and for ever. We cannot tolerate a situation in which a so-called border question will create more and more conflicts, which could in certain circumstances develop and become dangerous to stability in northern Europe.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia (translation)

Yes, of course. I believe there is no real will on the Russian side to tackle these problems in an open and reasonable atmosphere. We are always prepared – and this is in our own interest – to solve them as quickly as possible. There is no lack of good will on the Estonian side. I should therefore be very pleased if the Council of Europe were to try to ensure that the discussions with the Russian Federation get under way as soon as possible. Thank you for your question, which was actually more than just a question.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia (translation)

It must be this blue chair – the blue of the Estonian flag!

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

The day before yesterday Foreign Minister Kozyrev spoke in detail about the expansion of Nato. He was critical of such an expansion but I must stress that he used a new form of wording. He said that he was against a hasty expansion of Nato. That puts the matter in an entirely different light. We should explore what could be understood by Mr Kozyrev’s phrase “hasty expansion of Nato”.

If we are to improve relations with any neighbour, we must be honest and frank with that neighbour. We must be honest and frank with the Russian Federation and tell it that we have joined a partnership for peace and that we are not interested in staging manoeuvres on the Baltic Sea.

We have joined this international Organisation because we see in our partnership the first step to becoming a full member of Nato. I said during my short presentation why we are interested in joining Nato, which represents the common values that we share. It is not enough, however, in this harsh world to share common values. We have responsibility towards those values, and we would like to share the responsibility of protecting those values. We have been able to do that through the fifty difficult years of Soviet occupation. We must also do it during the next two or three decades when Russia will have a difficult period of adjusting to democratic and European ways of behaviour.

Mr Meri, President of Estonia

I have little to add to the decision taken by this august Council regarding the deplorable war against Chechnya. It is a small nation but a grand general is involved. Mr Dudayev spent some considerable time in our university town of Tartu as the commander-in-chief of a major Soviet base for strategic bombers. He took a great interest in the democratisation process in Estonia, and he was able to give the command that his airfield would not be used to deploy Soviet forces against Estonians. He helped us through the process of democratisation without any bloodshed and he will always have our deepest gratitude.

Perhaps it might interest the Council to know that recently a team of Estonian film makers returned from Chechnya, and I expect to see their interesting documentary which was filmed behind the front lines of both the forces of the Russian Federation and the forces of the Republic of Chechnya. I expect that that unique documentary will be ready in the first days of May.