Estonian president: Labeling people too readily can silence society
Society in Estonia has reached a stage where, in carelessly applying labels to people, we end up silencing societal conversation, President Alar Karis said.
In a long interview given to Eesti Ekspress, the head of state responded to Interior Minister Igor Taro's (Eesti 200) claims that nuns from the Russian Orthodox Kuremäe Convent in Ida-Viru County had been motivated by a desire to act in opposition to the Estonian state, all while posing as being the oppressed party, when they presented a letter of protest to the Riigikogu in February.
"I don't know what is on the minds of the Kuremäe convent nuns or what they think. But I don't like labeling. In a way, this represents the silencing of society," Karis said.
The president also said that he has had to apologize for statements originating in Estonia or from some of its allied nations, giving the example of statements made against Germany early on in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Even when I visited [German President] Frank-Walter Steinmeier, I said that we don't quite see it that way. And we understand that Germany has its own history, and that, understandably, things don't work that simply in Germany."
The more outspoken and radical politicians should do their homework more on why Estonia's allies sometimes make different choices than Estonia does, as in that way those allies can be more effectively influenced along the lines which Estonia desires.
When dealing with the current U.S. president, it is necessary to take on the posture of what Karis called a normal person, and not to shake their hand timidly.
"I've even seen how heads of state have approached with a shaking hand when greeting him. That is not necessary; he is in the same category of head of state, even if he leads a major country," Karis, who has met Donald Trump twice and sat adjacent to him at the funeral of Pope Francis in April, added.
In February, nuns from the Russian orthodox Kuremäe Convent submitted a petition to the Riigikogu rejecting a Ministry of Interior plan to introduce a new law requiring them to leave the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (MPEÕK).
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Eesti Ekspress
