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Address by the President of the Republic to the Chiefs of Military Chaplains' 14th International Conference
03.02.2003


Distinguished Conference Members,
Excellencies,

I am delighted to welcome you in Tallinn, the capital city of the Republic of Estonia, on the occasion of your today's conference, the topic of which - "Chaplains and Terrorism" - is of paramount importance in the present world.

Just a couple of days ago, we celebrated a day most essential for the Estonian statehood - the 83rd anniversary of concluding the Peace of Tartu between the Republic of Estonia and Soviet Russia in our university town, Tartu. This treaty is considered to be the birth certificate of our state.

Thanks to the Peace of Tartu, Estonia got a chance to build up our own state and to create conditions for meeting the challenges posed to us by the world of that time. Yet harder than those challenges were the Great Depression having started in the late 1920s and the ideological offensive of communism and fascism, which led to the world war in 1930s.

Estonia managed to emerge from the economic crisis with minimal losses, but due to a deal struck between the mentioned two ideologies, lost its independent statehood. For this reason, I believe you to understand how important it is to Estonia that dialogue and peace between religions and ideologies be persistent.

Terrorism is the largest threat to the today' world. The democratic world must not fail to take any of the steps, which might reduce or completely eliminate this threat. We have been taught by the history that the noblest ideology, too, can be harnessed for the purposes of evil to serve the human greed and revenge.

One of the momentous messages of the world' great religions is the message of peace. Against this background, your role, which pursuant to your calling and daily work is to take care of the soldiers'souls, hardly can be overestimated. You are expected to see to it that the purpose, for which armies would launch operations, were comprehensible and just. I wish that the magnificence of your spirit and strength of your mind helped to promote the message of peace and illuminate the truth.


Arnold Rüütel

Kadriorg, February 3, 2003


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