TALLINN - Valery Komissarov, a popular Russian TV showman who doubles as an MP, arrived at the Russian Embassy in Tallinn on July 7 to convince locals that life was good among the Mari, despite recent reports to the contrary.
Komissarov, who represents the Mari-El region in the State Duma (Russia's lower house of parliament) and is chairman of the information policy committee to boot, held a press conference to defuse some of the myths surrounding the supposed plight of the Finno-Ugric people that live in central Russia.
Using statistics, Komissarov showed that last year twice as many Mari were born as Russians in Mari-El. He added that 43 percent of the current population was Mari while 48 percent is Russian.
"I consider all rumors about the Mari genocide as indecent and misplaced," he said.
Komissarov was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Mari-El Galina Shiryayeva. Their visit was connected to the opening of the Mari art and book exhibition in the embassy's art gallery.
In recent months many regional papers, including The Baltic Times, have published articles citing violations of the Mari population's right to study and use their own language in schools and on the airwaves. A report that the editor of a Mari-language paper was beaten severely triggered alarm bells in Europe, and was enough to convince members of European Parliament to adopt a resolution calling on Russia to protect the minority's rights.
Komissarov vigorously denied any allegations of ethnic discrimination, saying the real situation is much different. According to him, the Mari are developing dynamically.
For her part, Shiryayeva tried to explain one of the most worrying charges 's the lack of quality education in Mari-El. Indeed, Mari children can learn the Mari language, a Finno-Ugric tongue, only in primary school. But there is a legal basis to establish secondary and higher education in the Mari language, she said.
Komissarov confirmed that 80 prcent of children learn the Mari tongue, and this comprises nearly all ethnic Mari offspring.
However, Shiryayeva cast doubt on the expediency of full secondary education in the Mari language, claiming this would cause difficulties for students once they reached university.
As regards to the mass media, Shiryayeva described the situation as wholly satisfactory. There are 130 periodicals in Mari El, 11 of them are subsidized by the state and 9 are in Mari. She added that as of July 1, broadcasting in Mari had been restored.
Russian Ambassador to Estonia Konstantin Provalov concluded the press conference by saying that the issue of survival was neither deeper nor more difficult for the Mari than any other Russian minority.
Aarne Veedla, an adviser to Estonia's Ministry of Regional Affairs, accompanied the Russian delegation during its visit. The visit was unexpected, he said, as officials learned of it only two days beforehand. Nevertheless, the dialogue was cordial and relaxed.
"The Finno-Ugric minorities are indigenous to Russia. They never dreamt of separatism 's they just live on their territories as they always did. It seems strange to us that someone cannot understand that those languages and cultures need to be protected and preserved. Komissarov appeared to realize the problem," Veedla told The Baltic Times.
"There is no danger for ruining Russian territorial integrity. That's why Estonia shows support to the kindred nationalities, such as the Mari people," he added.
For example, Arnold Ruutel signed an agreement in 1992 that permitted hundreds of Mari students to study in Estonia, something Mari-El Republic President Leonid Markelov did not want to prolong, explained Veedla.
Estonia, he said, suggested resigning the agreement.
"Estonia, as an EU member, and Russia now have to implement the Four Common Spaces agreement. One of them is common space on research, education and culture, so we render the Mari people our assistance," said Veedla. "We acknowledge that the subject could be taken as meddling in domestic problems. Nationalistic forces in Russia began to rub their hands with pleasure and the reaction is acute in all Duma factions."
He explained that the education problem for minorities was recently raised in Moscow, where Armenians, Georgians and dozens of different nationalities are in high concentration. They all want to study in their native tongue, particularly at the elementary school level.
"As far as I heard, there was a horrible scandal," Veedla said, adding that, in his opinion, it was right to turn the world's attention to the Mari and help them in every way.
The next biggest international Mari event, the X International Congress of Finno-Ugric Studies, will be held in Yoshkar-Ola, the republic capital, in August.
The Finno-Ugric Peoples' Information Center in Tallinn has reported another attack on a journalist in Yoskar-Ola.
The Baltic News Service reported on July 5 that Timur Habibov, editor of the independent newspaper Otkrytyi Vzlyady (Open Look), was attacked on his doorstop on June 29. His documents were stolen.
Later an unindentified individual returned some of Habibov's documents to his mother, saying that if the next issue of the paper was published her son would end up far worse.
Russian officials have claimed that all attacks against Mari journalists and cultural individuals in the past were acts of hooliganism and had nothing to do with national identity or those persons' professional activities.
In February, some 20 people from Estonia and Finland wrote a formal appeal to Russia asking authorities there to take efforts to stop attacks against the Mari.
Finally, on May 12 the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning violations of the rights of the Mari.
