| |
 | Speeches | | |
President of the Republic at the Conference 10 Years of New Independence of Estonia 10 Years of the Finnish Institute in Estonia in the National Library on 16 October 200116.10.2001
Rouva Eduskunnan puhenmies,
Mr Chairman of the Riigikogu,
Director of the Finnish Institute of Estonia,
Ladies and gentlemen!
There is no other country like Finland and no other nation comparable to Finns with whom Estonia and Estonians have had only good, friendly, mutually enriching relationships through the entire history of several thousand years. Although we are related both by language and mind, connected by geographical closeness and cultural similarity, the brotherly relations have always contained also something else than just the inevitable contribution of the nature.
In the storms of history, Estonia and Finland have almost always stood close to each other, often even side by side. We have always been aware of the most important activities of each other and shared our biggest joys and sorrows. Not in a too emotional or overflowing way that some other nations do but such is, alas, the restrained character of our Northern peoples.
Finns have come to help Estonians in quite a few critical historical moments, and Estonians have expressed their great support to the upright kindred nation of Finland at least in their thoughts, but often also in actions. The two neighbours approached each other again during the historic moments for Estonia ten years ago, when probably each Finn wished in his thoughts success to Estonia in its fight for independence and many of our ordinary Northern neighbours made also their own contribution to the determination of Estonians through personal and family contacts.
But even more often the co-operation and mutual support and assistance between Estonians and Finns has been less dramatic from the outside, but the more pertaining to substance - in a way that only the nations well knowing and trusting each other, members of one family are capable of. Co-operation in education and science, cultural exchange, joint activities of citizens' associations are no doubt such forms of international communication that proceed by themselves at their smooth moderate pace without appearing in large headings on front pages of newspapers. At the same time, such activities have a deep effect and also lasting, continuing consequences.
On the individual level, Estonian and Finnish intellectuals have communicated for centuries, but with the independence of Finland and Estonia also lively and effective co-operation of numerous organisations started in addition to good neighbourly relations between the countries. All that, alas, broke off at the beginning of the Soviet occupation and started to reappear with difficulties and under the control of alien power only in the 1950s. The visit of the President of the Republic of Finland Urho Kaleva Kekkonen to Estonia had historical significance for the enlivening of the direct relations and was soon followed by the opening of the ferry traffic between Tallinn and Helsinki.
Although a ferry heading for Finland remained a sort of White Ship, dream ship for Estonians for a long time, it opened the way to many Finns for getting acquainted with the daily life and culture of their closest kindred nation, maybe even reminded them of the existence of such a nation. Even if that ferry connection was not mutual at first, it created a cultural bridge with a rather bidirectional traffic between Finland and Estonia, contributed to the activities of the Finnish-Estonian Friendship Society and culminated with the creation of the Tuglas Society in Helsinki at the beginning of the 1980s.
The national reawakening of Estonia at the turn of the decade brought along new opportunities for the enlivening of the cultural exchange between the two kindred nations and people hurried to make use of these opportunities at once. In 1990 the Cultural Representation of Finland in Estonia started work in Estonia, after that also the Cultural Representation of Estonia in Helsinki. But in the next year, immediately after the declaration of the reindependence of Estonia, the cultural exchange was raised to a new qualitative level, when the Finnish Institute in Estonia started work, being to a large extent still the local representation of the Tuglas Society, in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture of Estonia and with a staff that consisted of Estonian citizens. In 1993 the activities were already reorganised according to the model of a cultural exchange between normal sovereign countries and the institute got a foundation to support it. Now a representation of the Estonian Institute is also operating in Finland. I would like to thank cordially here all these dozens of people from Finland and Estonia who dedicated themselves to such a noble activity as building up a functioning system of cultural exchange during those complicated and destitute times!
The world has opened up much more for Estonia by now and the bridge with Finland has long ceased to be the only connection with the culture of the free world, the much-talked-about window to Europe and to the world that it used to be. While at that time the bridge was a particular "vital path" for a small nation and cornered culture, it is now increasingly a bidirectional connection between neighbouring nations and cultures, enabling them to deepen considerably their mutual communication and knowing each other, enrich each other in a fertile atmosphere of free cultural exchange. More enticements of the world have emerged, but we have to admit that our best friends are still here, close to us. From who else should be learn but from friends, with who else but friends should we engage in artistic creation, intellectual self-improvement and emotional enrichment.
For that I wish the current employees and supporters of the Finnish Institute, all Fennophiles and Estophiles continuing bright mind, sincere readiness to communicate and joy from new discoveries from the culture of each other!
Thank you for your attention!
|
| |
|
vpk.ee
