IRL MP Demands Social Dem View on Occupation
Andres Herkel, a prominent MP for the IRL Party, has called on the Social Democrats to clarify their position on the Soviet occupation in light of their impending merger with the Russian Party in Estonia.
In a February 1 article on his blog, Herkel wrote that the leaders of the Russian Party, Stanislav Tsherepanov and Gennadi Afanasjev, had called for a moratorium on discussing the touchy issue, and that Afanasjev had gone so far as to say that the occupation was a question of belief and not a documented fact.
"Of course, Tsherepanov and Afanasjev are mistaken, because Parliament has recognized the Soviet Union's communist occupation of Estonia as a criminal act," he wrote, adding that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Parliament had condemned the crimes of totalitarian communism.
Herkel went on to say that if the Russian Party weren't about to merge with the Social Democrats, the two men's opinions wouldn't hold much weight, but now that the merger is in the works, a clarification of the party's stance regarding the occupation is needed. He said he was hoping for a quick response on the matter from Social Democratic Party leader Sven Mikser.
Steve Roman