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The President of the Republic at the opening of the IV World Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples in Tallinn on August 16 200416.08.2004
Honourable President Halonen, Honourable President Madl,
Dear representatives of kindred peoples and guests of the Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples!
Welcome to the capital of Estonia! Many thanks to all who consider co-operation between Finno-Ugric peoples an important matter.
Naturalists enter endangered species into a Red Book in order to take measures to save them from becoming extinct. Estonian scientists have compiled the Red Book of the Peoples of Russia. A Red Book for the peoples of the whole world is yet to be compiled.
When a species becomes extinct, the natural environment of the world will be the poorer for it, and the ecological balance may be compromised. When a people ceases to exist, their language disappears, together with its unique spirit. Thus, a unique culture and historical experience is lost.
When a people becomes extinct, it is not the loss in material riches that makes the world poorer, but the loss in spiritual and cultural diversity.
Most Finno-Ugric peoples, including Estonians, have a population under one million. Many Finno-Ugric tribes have already disappeared or are on the verge of extinction. Paradoxically, it is the possession of natural resources that can prove fatal for a people. The Khanty and the Mansi, whose territories are rich in natural resources, are listed in the Resolution of 1998 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe under Uralic peoples whose language and culture is endangered.
However, when a people obtains the endangered status, it may be already too late to guarantee their survival and the continuity of their language, culture and social arrangement. It is much earlier that we need to begin to worry about the fate of small nations and to start to protect their special existential needs.
It does not always take physical extermination for a nation to become extinct. More often than not, it is about assimilation, adopting a different language and different cultural patterns, which generally involves economic benefits and a higher social status. Usually it is said in such cases that the choice was made voluntarily.
Unfortunately the voluntary character of such a choice is but an illusion, as it was made under economic, political, demographic and educational considerations in a situation where a people had become a minority in their historical territory and lost control over the way they order their lives.
For a language and a culture to survive, it has to be transmitted to children from a very early age, and the prevalence of the native language and native culture within the community has to be ensured. However, in this day and age no language can survive and develop at home and on village lanes alone. Opportunities have to be created for national languages to obtain a full status and multifunctional application in everyday life, culture, education, scinece, mass media and information technology.
This Finno-Ugric Congress focusses on the youth. Youth are the force that shape and determine the future of every nation. Young people must look at the world with open eyes and with an open heart, they must exist within today's world on the world's level.. At the same time one should not forget the life experience of the older generation, nor the wisdom of our forefathers. It takes both traditions and an innovative spirit for a culture to be sustainable. A culture can only survive and develop in their interaction.
The Finno-Ugric peoples enrich the world with their unique languages and cultures. This Congress has been convoked to think about the essential problems of our peoples, to bring them to global attention, and to set our future goals together. For that, we need not only continuing cooperation between ourselves, but also friends and allies.
I wish all Finno-Ugric peoples success and prosperity.
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