Estonia Marks 19 Years of Post-Soviet Independence

Flags will fly throughout Estonia on August 20, as the nation marks its 19th anniversary re-establishing its independence, when it formally ended decades of Soviet rule. Estonia first won its independence from Russia in 1918, but it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II until 1991.

Offices, banks and many shops will be closed for the public holiday. Concerts and other cultural events honoring the occasion will be held across the nation.
The largest event will combine two Estonian passions - choir music and high-tech gadgetry - into a countrywide singing event.

The television channel Kanal 2 and telecommunications firm Elion will join to broadcast, ühtelaulmine, or "Singing Together," a mixed choir concert from the central Estonian town of Põltsamaa. A live feed will be projected onto large screens in public venues around the country, allowing local audiences to sing along. At some venues, such as Tallinn's Freedom Square, additional choir groups will add voices to the performance.

Meanwhile, a private gathering of the August 20th Club, an association of 61 members from the Estonian Supreme Council who voted for independence in 1991, will be held in the parliament building in Tallinn.

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves will host a reception for 700 Estonian political and cultural figures in the rose garden of his official residence in Tallinn, a spokesman from the president's office told ERR News.

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Soviet Legacy Lingers as Estonia Defines Its People

Oleg Bessedin's main travel document is called an "alien's passport," as if it were a gag item. But it is all that he has when he ventures abroad -- a reminder of his conflicted relationship with this country, and of the explosive ethnic tensions that endure across the former Soviet Union, nearly two decades after Communism's fall.

Mr. Bessedin, 36, an ethnic Russian, was born and raised in Estonia, and lives here with his family. Legally, though, he is not Estonian, nor a citizen of anywhere else. He is among 100,000 people in Estonia, most of them ethnic Russians, who are stateless, as if they were refugees in their own homeland.

"I love my country, and I have done a whole lot for my country," Mr. Bessedin, a television producer, said. "But my country has not done a whole lot for me." He blames the Estonian authorities for ostracizing him, and they in turn blame the former Soviet masters for the mess they left behind.

Whoever is at fault, deep friction is one legacy of Soviet ethnic and demographic policies that moved millions of people around -- and shifted many borders -- in order to cement Kremlin control over a vast patchwork of territories. The fallout endures, and the post-Soviet countries are constantly confronting it.

Just scan recent headlines: Major rioting breaks out in areas of Kyrgyzstan that Stalin gave to the Kyrgyz, but are still populated by Uzbeks; a firefight erupts over an enclave disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan; Georgia asserts that Russia wants to go to war again in support of two separatist territories, as it did two years ago; Moldova demands that Russian troops leave its own breakaway region.

Here in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, the slow burn offers a chance to see just how the process has worked -- both in history and on an individual level.

Relations between Estonia's government and its Russian minority have long been strained. And if the past is any indication, it would not take much to set off disturbances with repercussions in Moscow and Washington. In joining NATO, Estonia brought the alliance to the Russian border -- much to the Kremlin's displeasure.

In 2007, there was a brief spate of violence in Tallinn when ethnic Russians protested the removal of a Soviet war memorial. In the last year, Russia has criticized Estonia over its treatment of ethnic Russians. Estonia has expressed fears of new encroachment by Moscow and recently raised alarms after Russia stationed missiles nearby.

The citizenship policy has been perhaps the most provocative issue; in some sense, it represents the Estonian government's pointed response to what Stalin wrought.

Before Estonia was seized by the Soviets in 1940, its population was largely ethnic Estonian; resentment was strong enough that many sided with the Germans when Hitler invaded in 1941. In subsequent decades, to assure future loyalty, the Soviet government settled many ethnic Russians and others here. Today nearly half of the people in Tallinn - not all of them ethnic Russians -- speak Russian as their mother tongue.

With independence in the early 1990s, the government has reversed Russification. It mandated the Estonian language in schools and government offices. And it adopted a policy that left people like Mr. Bessedin stateless: With few exceptions, Estonia granted citizenship only to people who had it before the Soviet takeover, as well as their descendants. Latvia is the only other former Soviet republic with a similar rule.

Non-Estonians can obtain citizenship by passing a language test, but that is difficult for many ethnic Russians, who felt no need to learn Estonian during Soviet times. (There is also a civics examination, in Estonian.)

Estonian society, in other words, has undergone a turnabout, and ethnic Russians have lost their privileged status, just as the Soviet collapse has reordered ethnic relations across the Soviet space.

Yet Kristina Kallas, an analyst at the Institute of Baltic Studies in Tallinn, said she has been struck by the attitudes of many young ethnic Russians, who act as if they had the stature of their forebears.

"The memories and reflections are handed down to the next generation," Ms. Kallas said. "Even when we speak about the second or third generation of Russians in Estonia, you can see that they refuse to identify themselves or their ancestors as immigrants. It's not just that the older generation dies, and the legacy disappears."

About 7.5 percent of Estonia's 1.35 million people are stateless. Their "alien's passports" allow them to enter many European countries without visas, just like Estonian citizens, though they tend to face more bureaucratic hurdles. In Estonia, they cannot vote in federal elections or hold some jobs.

Ethnic Russians in their 30s and 40s seem most disaffected, as if adrift between cultures. Some have successfully gone through the citizenship process. But others have refused as a protest, even if they speak Estonian.

"The government is not for Estonia; it is only against Russia," said Igor Matrosov, a software engineer. "Right now, I could become a citizen. But I have been betrayed."

The government is encouraging integration by offering language classes and trying to improve job opportunities for ethnic Russians. Estonia's president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, has defended the citizenship rules.

"As for the language examination and history examination, these are requirements in every country," he told a Russian newspaper.

The counterargument, of course, is that elsewhere such policies are intended for immigrants. Ethnic Russians in Estonia their whole lives are not exactly immigrants. But what are they?

"We feel like we are not Russian -- and we are not Estonian," said Vladimir Dzhumkov, a stateless theater director. "We are stuck in the middle. And both sides are taking advantage of us."

By Clifford J. Levy - nytimes.com

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Taxis in Tallinn

In Estonia each taxi company set the prices because there is not a fixed rate for this public service, so you can find very different prices not only as start price, but also in terms of  kroons per kilometer.

First of all, the best option is to call a taxi company and ask for a car. If you take the taxi in the street or in a taxi stand it is going to be more expensive but, if you use your phone, you will have to select between 47 different numbers to call.

All about average prices

Depending on the company, the price per kilometer goes from 3,5 EEK till 42 EEK. The most common price is 5,9 EEK/km, and the 46% of the companies have their rate between 5 and 5,9 kroons/km.

About the taxis’ start price, you can pay from 24 kroons till 144 EEK. 40% of the companies have the price fixed between 24 and 29 kroons, and in the 21% of them you will pay 35 kroons as start price.
Only five companies have this figure higher than 49 kroons.

We cannot forget that during the night the prices per kilometer are higher in some companies, normally around 2 kroons more than during the day.

Another thing that we have to keep in mind is the number of taxis that the companies have.

If you are in a hurry, for example, even if it is more expensive you can call Linnatakso or Tulika Takso because they have 100 cars working.

However, do not call Edu Takso because, even if it is in the average price range, it has only 3 taxis. Most of the companies have among 20 and 80 cars.

Who offers me the best price?

Although the start price is also important, we are going to use the rate of EEK/km to do the list of the five cheapest taxi companies in Tallinn.

1. Kadaka Takso offers his services for 3,5 EEK/km and 35 kroons for start price (Tel. 65 400 65; 55628000)
2. K.T.K. Takso: 3,9 EEK/km and cheaper start price, 29 kroons (Tel. 65 65 777)
3. Inter Takso: 4 EEK/km and even cheaper start price, 25 kroons (Tel. 655 99 44)
4. Sinu Takso: 4,5 EEK/km and a start price fixes in 27 kroons (Tel. 555 4 0000)
5. Raadiotakso: 4,7 EEK/km and also 27 kroons for start price (Tel. 601 11 11 or 1208)

Which taxis are the most expensive?

Here we have the top five of the most expensive taxis in Tallinn.

1. Taxiline charge 42 EEK/km and its start price is 144 kroons
2. Global Takso: 19,9 EEK/km and 45 kroons as start price
3. Taxi Takso and Maksitakso are in the same position because both of them charge 15 EEK/km. However, Taxi Takso has a cheaper starts price than Maksitakso, 50 and 90 kroons respectively.
4. X.O Takso costs 12,9 EEK/km and it start price is 49 kroons
5. Tallink Takso and Tallina Taksopark are exactly in the same situation: 10,9 EEK/km and 48 kroons as start price.

By Veronica de Castro - estonianfreepress.com

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