Ten Years from the Cold War


President Ahtisaari,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen!

The last ten years have been a time of great changes, best symbolised by the dramatic fall of the Berlin wall. This was indeed a historic event. And yet it symbolised rather the victorious beginning of an end than the victorious end of a new beginning. Every totalitarian system has a carefully hidden side, man's silent opposition to totalitarianism. Today, we commemorate the workers' uprising in East Berlin in 1953, the revolution in Hungary in 1956, as well as the 1968 Spring in Czechoslovakia, and Poland's resistance throughout all these decades. Man's striving for freedom has been one of his most striking qualities throughout the ages, which even the most violent totalitarian terror has never succeeded to suppress.

Therefore, I consider it necessary here to pay my respects to these tens of thousands of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians, who, at different times and with different tactics, fought the Soviet oppression. The Baltic nations' struggle for freedom met the sympathy and support of the Russian democrats led by Academician Andrei Sakharov. The Baltic nations and the Russian democrats in their common struggle against Soviet totalitarianism, prepared the fall of the wall. The signal sent to Europe came from the Empire of Evil itself, and it said: what has been impossible, is now possible, is possible just now, and only now!

What does this bespeak of?
This bespeaks of a paradoxical conclusion: there was no wall in the heart of the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. Or if there was, it was the wall of the Kremlin. We were led by our precise sense of timing and by our national responsibility, which gave our steps their iron discipline that the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians still remember from the times of the Popular Fronts. Let us also acknowledge that before the fall of the Berlin wall we were striving for a single simple goal, for freedom.

Europe was the one who betrayed itself. Thus, today is anything but a celebration, where we can speak of achieved goals. Man is always pursued by a human temptation to say: we have reached our goal. This can be true for a man's life, or for the life of a generation, but not of the life of nations, states, or cultures. Even on this important day, which is not a celebration, let us admit: the disintegration of the Soviet Union does in itself not guarantee that the Cold War will never return. Let me draw your attention to the fact that we are these days observing three consecutive anniversaries. Yesterday, the eighty-second anniversary of the Great Socialist October Revolution was celebrated - even though it had been neither great nor socialist, nor even in October, and not a revolution, but a counter-revolution of a bunch of terrorists. The other side of this event is more symbolic: the anniversary was celebrated by a meeting in Moscow, with six thousand participants, but the meeting took place on the ominous Lubyanka square, in front of the headquarters of the Soviet terror. How many Europeans noticed this? Tomorrow, there is another anniversary - sixty-one years from the Kristallnacht in Germany. Let us ask again: how many noticed this ominous event at the time? The New York Times limited itself to a brief notice on page eight. Ladies and gentlemen, as a former writer, I may be too attached to history, and yet I can not forget the well-known truth: those who forget the past are condemned to relive it.

So, let us return to the present, in the hope that we will be able not to forget the past, the Cold War, human rights.

Once again the Baltic States are democracies, market economies and part of Central and Northern Europe. This I believe is a considerable achievement, one which few would have believed possible, after the fall of the Wall. It has been a tough struggle. But I am proud to say that in Estonia you will find no sympathy for the communist ideology, as is the case elsewhere in Europe. Having experienced not only communist dictatorship, but also a total loss of national sovereignty Estonians don't make themselves any illusions about the past. Estonian's have resolutely turned their eyes towards the future.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

we are faced with new challenges. We work to rebuild the relationship that has always existed around the Baltic Sea for centuries but which was brutally interrupted by the Soviet occupation. We are in the process of building up our relationship with our eastern neighbours on a new basis. Let me elaborate on three points.

First, our aim to join the EU and NATO. It is fair that we are asked to fulfil certain criteria to be able to act as members, but it is equally fair of us to expect that the accession process is as long as is necessary and as short as possible. Ten years after the Berlin Wall fell we should all be working to unite a divided Europe as quickly as possible.

Second, the re-creation of the Baltic Sea community. President Ahtisaari already refered to the similar history of our countries. Yet we have all been part of the community of Baltic Sea nations which existed for centuries. The end of Soviet domination made possible the renewal of traditional economic, cultural and political ties. I am certain that this will promote the Baltic Sea region as a business opportunity within the wider European Union.

Third, the collapse of the Soviet Union has provided us with a unique opportunity to establish our relationship with East European countries, above all with Russia and Ukraine, on a completely new basis. We, and indeed all of western Europe, have repeatedly stated that we want to have strong and friendly relations with all our neighbours. We do not wish, nor do we intend to build up new walls between the European Union and the countries east of us. It is my sincere hope that despite all the difficulties Russia is facing this will form the basis of our relations, based on equality, the rule of law and long-term cooperation programs.

Russia has yet to grasp the possibilities offered by the new era. It seems that some Moscow politicians still believe that in bilateral relations one side has to win and the other has to lose. I have to mention only one example: Chechnya.

Dear colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

As we commemorate the fall of the wall this last aspect, the need to avoid the building of new barriers and new dividing lines, is often mentioned. Indeed, the free will of peoples will never erect new Berlin walls. Those who advocate the avoidance of new dividing lines often want to preserve old spheres of influence. Our new world must be free of such thinking. It is a world with new opportunities. The process of EU enlargement is evolving. And the Baltic Sea is once again the axis of cooperation and trade between all its shores and nations.

I would like to thank President Ahtisaari and the organizers of this event for bringing us all together here as a beautiful symbol of the new Europe under Finnish chairmanship.

Thank you.

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