[lg policy] Estonian elections, language policy and Russian threats to invade (II) Estonian Life

Sat Mar 7 22:09:07 UTC 2015

Estonian elections, language policy and Russian threats to invade (II)
Estonian Life
Eestlased Eestis <http://www.eesti.ca/eestlased-eestis/list3> 06 Mar 2015  Laas
Leivat <info at eesti.ca>Eesti Elu <http://www.eestielu.ca/>
     [image: Trüki]
<http://www.eesti.ca/estonian-elections-language-policy-and-russian-threats-to-invade-ii-estonian-life/print44524>
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[image: - pics/2015/03/44524_001.jpg]
Laas Leivat

Russia officially annexed Crimea from Ukraine after it had invaded the
region and after 90% of Crimeans voted to join the Russian Federation.
Subsequently opinion polls have shown that the percentage of residents in
Crimea that opted for joining the Russian Federation was actually much
smaller leading one to conclude that the results of the vote had been
grossly falsified.

During the period of the Crimean annexation Russia voiced concern (in some
instances, outrage – a reaction not commensurate with actuality) about
Estonia`s treatment of Russian ethnic minority community. Moscow compared
language policy in Estonia with Ukraine`s attempts to prevent the use of
Russian – an accusation that does not reflect the real facts. About a
quarter of Estonia`s population are Russian speakers, approximately the
same proportion that exists in Ukraine.

At the Human Rights Council in Geneva, a Russian diplomat had said that
``Language should not be used to segregate and isolate groups. Russia is
concerned by the steps taken in this regard in Estonia as well as
Ukraine.`` This was a gross misrepresentation of the actual situation.

These accusations have been made repeatedly over many years. The
deliberately ignore the fact that Estonia`s goal, through the gradual
introduction of Estonian as the language of instruction for some subjects,
is to have Russian speakers in north east of the country be able to speak
Estonian.

At least 10,000 Crimean Tatars have left Crimea since the Russian takeover.
Knowing this one is reminded of what happened in the areas of north-east
and south-east Estonia when some 2,235 sq. kms. (including Petseri and east
of the Narva river) were illegitimately transferred at the end of 1944 to
the Russian SSR. It had an ethnically mixed indigenous population of 56,000
of which 19,000 were Estonian. In Petseri, Estonians even formed a majority.

For non-Russians their ethnic cultures and languages were not given the
means to be promoted and maintained. Their media, schools, clubs,
associations were abolished.

Russia had proclaimed some years earlier its new foreign policy directions
and one of the fundamental principles to which it vowed to adhere was the
`protection` of ethnic Russians` language and cultural rights outside its
borders – vigorously.

Historically, this not the first time such reasons have been given for
military aggression. Some narratives of the past put the emphasis on the
protection of marginalized German-language speakers when 80 years ago
Germany began its annexation of nearby states. It was seen as Hitler’s
asserted desire to ‘unite and protect’ all German speaking peoples. The
West turned a blind eye for some years.

Jaak Aaviksoo, former defense minister, former rector of Tartu University
and currently a member of parliament, in reference to Social Democrat
candidate Inna Nazarova`s campaign promise to negate the requirement for
partial Estonian instruction in Russian language schools said: ``At first
the demand is set in a calm and reserved manner. One doesn`t have to see
into the future to realize that the re-Russification of schools is the
first step in making Russian an official state language. The loud
proponents of this have made no secret of it on Russian TV. … It doesn`t
take much to understand that the war in eastern Ukraine got its start also
from an unemotional discussion about language policy. A British general has
directly referred the Nazarova`s promises as a provocation.``

Martin Hurt of the Estonian ``International Centre for Defense Studies``
sees the situation between Estonia and Ukraine having significant
differences: ``But there are major differences with the Ukraine situation.
The NATO alliance of course, provides a massive deterrent and Estonia has
been a member of the EU for the last ten years. The Russian minority
understands its benefits and the lesser standard of living across the
border.``

These conclusions are also supported by scholar Kaja Koort: ``…local
Russians largely disagree with Russian troops going into Estonia under the
label of `protection of their compatriots` ….`` `we know how little Russia
actually cares about Russians.`` But she continues: ``The role of Russian
media in inciting such ethnic hatred cannot be underestimated, even more so
because the standards of official Russian media have sunk back to where
they were during the depths of the Cold War. … The nightly program
transmits an exaggerated and biased picture of an evil and threatening
Western world that now includes the Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine. …
Ironically Russia`s actions in Ukraine today are very much like those of
Nazi Germany in Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939. In this light
Putin`s assertion that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest
geopolitical catastrophe of the last century sounds especially ominous``.
Laas Leivat
http://www.eesti.ca/estonian-elections-language-policy-and-russian-threats-to-invade-ii-estonian-life/article44524

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