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Karelian question

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Map showing areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union; Porkkala was returned to Finland in 1956.

Typical Russian propaganda is to write that there would be a question related Karelia and Petsamo, the areas Finland lost in Second World war to Sovjet Union. Nearly all Karelian people evacuated to Finland and Karelia was left empty to the Russians. Karelian issue refers to Russian propaganda to try represent the area Karelia as if there were still on going conflict between Finland and Russia. Finland have accepted the loss of the area From the beginning. Some people have wanted to visit the graveyards in Karelian soil, because a lot of their relatives are buried there.

Finnish people jokingly refer to the relationship between Finland and Russia by saying out loud ”Karjala takaisin!”. Take Back Karjala! Finland tried and lost the latter part of the war, called ”jatkosota” and the saying is a joke.

History

Finland was forced to cede Karelian territories to the Soviet Union after the Winter War in the Moscow peace treaty in 1940. Most Finnish citizens were evacuated from the ceded areas. Most of them returned during the Continuation War and eventually were evacuated again in 1944. The Soviet Union insisted the ceded areas be completely evacuated in 10 days. The evacuees were partly compensated for their losses; farmers, for example, received land in proportion to their earlier holdings. Usually, the compensation was about one third of the original farm. Compensation for movable property was much less. However, all evacuee families had a right to receive a small farm, and/or a plot for a detached house or a flat. The land used for these grants was confiscated by the state from municipalities and private owners. Financial compensation was funded by a general property tax of 10 to 30%, levied over a period of several years.[1][2] Because the vast majority of the evacuees who had to settle in the rest of Finland were from ceded Karelia, the question was labeled The Karelian Question. After the Winter War, Karelian municipalities and parishes established Karjalan Liitto (the Karelian Association) to defend the rights of Karelians in Finland.

Evacuees from Muolaa moving towards Western Finland during winter 1940.

During the Cold War, the Karelian-born Finnish politician Johannes Virolainen lobbied for the return of Karelia. President Urho Kekkonen also tried to reacquire the territory, especially when the Soviet Union returned the peninsula of Porkkala to Finland in 1956.[3] There was, however, no significant public controversy about the case, because Kekkonen wanted to keep it quiet.[4] The last time Kekkonen tried to raise it was in 1972, but he had no success, and public discussion died out in the 1970s.[5]

According to an article by the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in August 2007, the Russian president Boris Yeltsin unofficially offered to sell ceded Karelia to Finland in 1991 but Finland declined his offer because there was no interest to have land Back.[6] However, according to many Finnish political leaders and the Russian vice Prime Minister of the time, there were no such offers, only unofficial probing of the idea.[7][8][9][10] Andrei Fyodorov, an advisor of Boris Yeltsin, told the Helsingin Sanomat that he was part of a group that was tasked by the government of Russia in 1991–1992 with calculating the price of returning Karelia to Finland. This price was set at 15 billion US dollars. According to Fyodorov, Finnish president Mauno Koivisto and Finnish foreign minister Paavo Väyrynen were aware of these unofficial discussions.[11]

21st century

Many Finnish era buildings remain in Vyborg.

Karjalan Liitto is an interest group of Karelian evacuees to keep the Karelian tradition alive. There are areas, like Northen Karelia and Savo, in Finland whose dialects remind Karelian dialect. In Helsinki there is a Karjala talo to have places ro cherish Karelian culture. It is unclear how many people who have Karelian ethnic background is still living in the Russian side of Karelia.

Official opinions

Both Russia and Finland have repeatedly stated that no open territorial dispute exists between the two countries. Finland's official stance is that the borders may be changed through peaceful negotiations, although there is currently no need to hold open talks, as Russia has shown no intention of returning the ceded areas, or discussing the question. In 1994 Boris Yeltsin commented that the "seizure of Finnish Karelia" was an example of Stalin's totalitarian and aggressive politics.[12] Later in 1997 he stated that the matter was closed. In 2000 President Putin stated that such discussions may endanger Finnish–Russian relations, and in 2001 he said that "changing borders is not the best way to resolve problems", but that possible solutions would be "integration and cooperation".[13]

In 1998 Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari said that "Finland's official position is that it does not have territorial demands on Russia. However, if Russia wants to discuss returning the ceded areas, Finland is ready for that."[14] Several other politicians holding government office, such as the former foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja and prime minister Matti Vanhanen, have made statements along the same lines.[15][16]

When commenting on poll results on 18 January 2005, the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov stated that if Russia were to be asked to return the ceded areas, "the answer would be absolutely negative".[17]

The latest[when?] polls show that approximately 26% to 38% of Finns would like to see Karelia return to Finnish control and some 51% to 62% of Finns would oppose to see Karelia return to Finnish control. The results of polls are twisted as people who are not interested in the issue are not answering the poll.

In Russia, people associate the word "Karelia" with the Republic of Karelia instead of Finnish Karelia, which makes conducting polls more difficult. In a 1999 poll by MTV3, 34% of the people of Vyborg supported returning Karelia to Finland and 57% were opposed. Vyborg and the rest of the ceded Karelia outside the Republic of Karelia nowadays contain very few ethnic Finns, and is almost exclusively inhabited by people who moved there during the Soviet era and their descendants.

Problems and arguments

Price

Blocks of flats built in the Soviet era in Svetogorsk (Enso)

One of the main reasons for opposing the return is the fear of the costs it would bring. According to another poll conducted by Helsingin Sanomat, 42% of Finns opposing the return list that as the most important single reason. The standard of living on the Russian side of the border is much lower than on the Finnish side. The GDP (PPP) per capita in Finland is about double that of Russia.

The costs of bringing Karelia to the same level with the rest of Finland have been researched only by supporters of the idea. According to a survey conducted by ProKarelia, the area has natural advantages that, under Finnish rule, would make it a centre of trade with Russia and industry and thus bring economic growth fast enough to solve the entire problem. According to both ProKarelian research and Arto Lahti's estimate, the price of return would be about 30 billion euro.[18][19][20]

Population

Countryside houses. A picture from Sortavala.

The area is inhabited mostly by people who moved there from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and their descendants. The fate of these people is a major issue in discussions of the return of Karelia to Finland. According to the poll by Helsingin Sanomat, 14% of people opposing return consider its greatest flaw the tensions that would be caused by a Russian-speaking minority being formed in Finland. In 2004, there were about 370,000 Russians living in the region.[21]

If the inhabitants were allowed to stay in their homes, Finland would receive a few hundred thousand new Russian-speaking people with no experience of living in Finnish society. If services for them in their own language were to be provided, Finland would need many more officials capable of speaking Russian. In ProKarelia's vision, nearly half of the Russian population in Karelia would be estimated to choose to move to Russia,[22] and even more would leave if Finland paid their expenses for doing so.[18] However most of the Russian speaking population of Karelia were born there and have spent all their life in the region.

See also

References

  1. ^ Karjalan suomalaistilojen korvaukset Sodan jälkeeen. Archived 2008-04-08 at the Wayback Machine Reino Paju 9-15-2003. Retrieved 1-30-2008. (in Finnish)
  2. ^ Koskesta voimaa – maanhankintalaki. University of Tampere. Retrieved 1-30-2008. (in Finnish)
  3. ^ Kekkonen nosti Karjala-kysymyksen esiin 1968 Archived 2008-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (Kekkonen raised Karelia question in 1968) (in Finnish)
  4. ^ Kekkonen kehottaa karjalaisia vaitioloon Archived 2007-10-17 at the Wayback Machine (Kekkonen suggest to be quiet) (in Finnish)
  5. ^ Saimaa Canal links two Karelias – This is Finland
  6. ^ Report: Unofficial offers by Russia in 1991 to return ceded Karelia to Finland - Helsingin Sanomat August 21, 2007
  7. ^ Koiviston Karjala-selvitys outo asia ulkopolitiikan sisäpiirille STT 15.08.2007 [1] (in Finnish)
  8. ^ Esko Aho: Karjalan palautus ei kuulosta uskottavalta. YLE Uutiset 16.08.2007 [2]
  9. ^ Venäläispoliitikko uhkaa haastaa Kainuun Sanomat oikeuteen YLE Uutiset 21.08.2007 [3] (in Finnish)
  10. ^ Koivisto: Venäjä ei tarjonnut Karjalaa Suomelle Helsingin Sanomat 23.8.2007 [4] (in Finnish)
  11. ^ HS: Fyodorov: Koivisto ja Väyrynen tiesivät Karjala-tunnusteluista 5.9.2007, accessed 13.3.2008 (in Finnish)
  12. ^ Valtiosihteeri Jukka Valtasaaren puhe Karjalan Liitto ry:n seminaarissa 19.5.1998 Helsingissä Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. (Speech by valtiosihteeri Jukka Valtasaari. Finnish Foreign Ministry 1998-05-19. Retrieved 2015-08-15. (in Finnish)
  13. ^ Sergei Prozorov: Border Regions and the Politics of EU-Russian Relations, p. 4. January 2004 [5], Helsingin Sanomat 9/5/2001 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-05-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ Martti Ahtisaari. In press meeting, Kuopio 30 July 1998.
  15. ^ Tuomioja's reply to Risto Kuisma's question in Eduskunta [6][permanent dead link‍]
  16. ^ Matti Vanhanen in YLE's "Pääministerin haastattelutunti" (Interview of the Prime Minister) on 21 November 2004
  17. ^ Vainio, Riitta: Provokaattoreita ja sovittelijoita, Helsingin Sanomat 21 August 2005. Accessed on 17 September 2019.
  18. ^ a b ProKarelia's Reform
  19. ^ Karjalan palauttamisen lasketaan kannattavan Archived 2008-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Arto Lahti's lecture in Karjala seminar 23 August 2005 abridgement
  21. ^ 2004 Russian Census
  22. ^ "ProKarelia". Archived from the original on 2007-10-24.

Supporting organizations

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