Estonian President defends collective defense

Nov 08, 2006
By TBT staff

Speaking at higher state defense courses on Nov. 7, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said collective defense was the cornerstone of the Estonian state defense system.

Ilves said he had often been asked why Estonian young men had to fight somewhere in Iraq or Afghanistan. The president brought Estonia's situation into his answer.

"This is exactly how an Oklahoma farmer might ask why his son should fight, if necessary, somewhere in Estonia or Latvia," the president said. "So if we want to be helped when we need help, we must also be ready to help our allies. This is the foundation of mutual trust."

Ilves added that collective defense did not mean that Estonia could be absent or passive and still hope that Estonia's allies would save them from the worst in the event of trouble.

"The principle that help will be given to those who are ready to help themselves will always apply," he said. "Or putting it the other way round, if the Estonian state is not ready to defend itself, if only to a limited degree, no one will seriously want to help us."

Speaking of civilian control or civilian management of the military, Ilves said that he would not dramatize the contradictions that had recently become apparent between the defense forces general staff and the Defense Ministry.

"There are certain tensions between politicians, civilian officials and the military, not just in Estonia, but in all democratic countries," the president said. "This is natural, because a general with a service record of thirty years certainly knows more about warfare than civilian defense ministers who are frequently replaced in a democratic society."

The head of state said that in a democratic society servicemen simply will have to understand that elected representatives and appointed representatives of executive power decide the use of the defense forces, and also organize their financing and control their management.

"This way the defense forces follow the security and defense policy guidelines of representatives elected by the people, and in working out these guidelines, representatives take the expert advice of the defense forces into consideration ," Ilves said. "Civilian control is a system introducing a clearly defined control mechanism that presumes mutual respect."

The president's talk of limiting the power of the military did not seem to offend the officer corps. On Nov. 8 the Estonian Reserve Officers association gave the president an Officer's Sword.

''The sword is traditionally a symbol of a free man. Why could it not be in today's context when given to the head of state symbolize a free country and free people,'' President Ilves said, reinforcing his stand on the importance of a civilian controlled military.

When accepting the sword the president pledged to act in a way that ensures Estonia's national defense would be continuously in good form and that there would be no need to defend our state with arms in hand.

Captain Heino Piirsalu of the Estonian Reserve officer's association seemed to agree with the president's policy of collective defense, and the preventative benefits that the approach can offer.

''As citizens of a peace-loving country we do not want wars and we wish that this sword will stay in its scabbard. In spite of that, let today's ceremony demonstrate our readiness to defend Estonian values and independence by force of arms if necessary,'' Captain Piirsalu said.

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