"Such treatment does not accord with correct pursuant to international law and the international community's evaluation," said Demetris Samuel, second secretary at the Cypriot Embassy in Helsinki. The atlas shows northern Cyprus as a separate administrative unit.
He told the Estonian daily Postimees that Cyprus was about to turn to the Estonian government with a request to reprint the atlas after learning that it had been officially approved for use in schools.
The chief editor of Estonian Encyclopedia Publishers, which published the atlas, meanwhile rejected the criticism and said the maps offered a correct representation. The atlas is politically correct, Editor in Chief Raul Kilgas told Postimees .
The controversy over the new atlas has reached the Estonian Parliament, where Deputy Speaker Siiri Oviir said during a question and answer session on Jan. 11 that the atlas contains misinformation about Georgia and Moldova, both of which have parts of their territory controlled by separatists.
Oviir said that as the atlas approved by the Education Ministry presents the Georgian territory of Abkhazia and Transnistria in Moldova as separate countries, it contests the territorial integrity of Georgia and Moldova and causes diplomatic complications for Estonia.
Kilgas said that neither Abkhazia nor Transnistria was shown in the atlas as an independent country.
"The above territories are depicted as areas that have unilaterally declared their independence, using the relevant signs that are unambiguously explained in the atlas," Kilgas said.
In the country information, Abkhazia and Transnistria are included respectively under Georgia and Moldova, with a statement that while these territories have declared themselves independent they are de jure parts of Georgia and Moldova, he added.
Abkhazia and Transnistria are not exceptions. The same system is used consistently in all similar cases where a territory has become disputed, such as northern Cyprus, Western Sahara and Nagorno-Karabakh, said Kilgas.
"The political maps of the atlas are fully correct, containing at the same time as much objective information as possible about complex and changing world politics, which students and all other users expect from the atlas," he continued.
The maps printed in the atlas were supplied by Latvian map publisher Jana Seta. The printing cost the Estonian taxpayer nearly 2.1 million kroons ($128,000).
Imbi Henno, chief specialist at the Estonian Education Ministry, said the offer made by the Latvian firm had received positive reviews from the ministry's expert panel and was cheaper than competing offers. The same atlas layout is used by most schools in Russia and also schools in Latvia and Lithuania.
The school atlas showing several separatist areas around the world as separate territorial units have brought complaints to Education Minister Tonis Lukas.
A protest letter from the local Azeri community, says that the separation of the Karabakh area from Azerbaijan in the atlas is nothing but an arbitrary revision of the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The letter was signed by community chairman Niyazi Hadjiev.
"Thinking about our children studying in Estonian schools, it is alarming to think that they will get the wrong information," the message of the nearly 1,300-strong Azeri community runs. "We hope the problem will be solved with regard to international practice."
Lukas said that the ministry can't afford to reprint the atlas, which has a print-run of 23,000 copies, but respective memoranda and instructions will be sent to schools.
"Teachers will have to give additional explanations while speaking about these territories," he said.
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