Open letter on Estonian citizenship debate
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 16:48:50 +0200 (EET)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Open letter on Estonian citizenship debate
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Valeri Kalabugin <[email protected]>
Open letter on Estonian citizenship debate
Dear Sirs,
I am sending you an open letter, published some days ago in two
Estonian newspapers "Postimees" and "Paevaleht", on the issue
currently under discussion in Latvia. May I ask you to distribute it
as well.
Sincerely yours
Valeri Kalabugin
________________
Tallinn, ESTONIA
Phone/Fax: +372-2-424143
E-mail: [email protected]
________________________________________________
ON THE CITIZENSHIP OF FOREIGNERS' CHILDREN
A proposal is under discussion at the National Assembly to
automatically grant citizenship to the foreigners' children born here.
Whereas it is ignored that under the Russia's legislation they are
Russian citizens and that the new citizens, when they become of age,
would not necessarily understand Estonia, its language and culture. To
start "automatically" granting citizenship would mean to take the
process of integration from under control. It would be much more
difficult for the Estonian community to influence and motivate new
citizens who remain foreigners in their minds. They would become
Estonian citizens independent of whether they would have integrated or
ever intended to integrate into the Estonian community.
Nor it is taken into account that children would be forced upon them a
citizenship other than that of their parents. Unless the parents are
or intend to become Estonian citizens, there is no reason to suppose
that their child wants the Estonian citizenship. A child must have the
right to consciously opt for either citizenship when of age.
Russia has pressurised Estonia and Latvia with demands that
citizenship be granted unconditionally to all immigrants, independent
from whether they want that citizenship at all. Actually, this
pressure does not come from a genuine concern for the local Russians.
In fact, it is much easier for Russia to improve the living conditions
of home-resided Russians than of those living abroad; however, this
does not seem to be of concern for those in power. The aim is not to
protect local immigrants but just to produce an illusion of the
concern for the interests of the Russian nation. The aim is to stay in
power. Estonia's concessions to any ungrounded demands of Russia would
help to create this illusion.
In future, Russia may have a government capable to improve the
economic situation. This might considerably assist in solving the
problem of foreigners in Estonia, since many of those immigrants who
might be definitely called economic refugees, would leave Estonia as
easily as they once left their Russia.
Beginning to unconditionally grant citizenship to immigrants, their
children and relatives, Estonia would hit the road of Belarus toward
the situation when Estonia would democratically opt to become a
Russian province. However, neither in the European Union nor elsewhere
in the world is there a law forbidding Estonia to consider children as
having the same citizenship as their parents.
No party or electoral union has received from the Estonian people at
the general elections a mandate to change the citizenship policy.
Aware of this, Estonian parties promised not to alter the citizenship
law. Approval of the proposed amendment would be an outright deception
of the voters.
Kalju M=E4tik, former political prisoner
Valeri Kalabugin, journalist
3 December 1998
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