From: dleschin@FEDS66.PRIME.COM ("", Dmitri Leschiner)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.soviet
Subject: Re: Enigmatic double citizenship in ESTONIA
Date: 29 Sep 92 19:01:17 GMT
Reply-To: "talk.politics.soviet via ListServ" <TPS-L@indycms.iupui.edu>

In article <1992Sep27.155142.1@cc.helsinki.fi>,
Tapani Hietaniemi (thietaniemi@cc.helsinki.fi) writes:

>--------------------------------------------------------------
>UPDATING AND RECTIFYING THE DATA ON ESTONIAN
>DOUBLE CITIZENSHIP - EXCITING, ISN'T IT? >:-(
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>(Please, do not think that I ENJOY spending my sundays
>this way!)

>- The contemporary Estonian legislation (1992) rules out the possibility of
>a double citizenship. There will not be any such things in the future.

Does it mean descendants of refugees will not get citizenship automatically
any more, since there is no such thing as 'estonian refugee' any more?
(See below).

>- Anyone holding an office in Estonia can not have a double citizenship.
>One must give the other one up.

>- The Estonian 1938 constitution did not allow a double citizenship.

>- However, the refugee government of Rei (in Stockholm) that considered
>itself to have the mandate of the Estonian presidency, declared during the
>second world war, that the Estonian (citizen) refugees in exile can
>maintain the other citizenship they have got without losing the
>Estonian citizenship.

>- At the same time, it was declared that even the descendants of the
>refugees do have the citizenship (not just the right to it, as I
>mistakenly wrote before).

While estonians being sent in Siberia (or went in Siberia, sometimes)
hardly can be called refugees, I'm not sure they (and their descendants)
will be deprived of right to maintain Russian citizenship without losing
Estonian one, if they want to, according to that decree (or would they?).

>- The position of the Estonians in exile is still partly unordered.
>A Finn living abroad must register him/herself to maintain the
>Finnish citizenship. Nevertheless, ESTONIA NEVER HAD ANY LEGISLATION
>ON THIS MATTER. (No registration is needed. I just guessed wrong.)

It seems it explains the mess we see here. Anyway, it does not seem
that Rei goverment decree is no longer acting law. So, Estonians abroad,
rush to give birth to your children, while it's not late yet!:-)

>- This implies, that around the world there exists an undefined amount
>of "Estonian citizens" (about 100 000, but no one knows for sure) that
>were entitled to vote in the previous elections (because of the decision
>made by the refugee government in Stockholm).

>- 8.500 of them used their right to vote. The Estonian elections were
>organized in countries that allowed it (like in Canada, Sweden and Russia)
>but not in countries that have prohibited "foreign" elections
>(as Germany and Switzerland).
>45 Estonian citizens even casted their ballot in Moscow.

Well, if their descendants will still acquire automatically Estonian
citizenship, we will soon see plenty of them not only in Moscow, but
everywhere around the world. I would even guess the amount of those
holding double citizenship will soon outnumber the amount of non-citizens
living in Estonia (another potential source of that threat, eh?).

>- Accordingly, even the daughter of professor Taagepera could vote
>in the previous elections. It happened this way:
>     She had a double Canadian/Estonian citizenship. She flew to Tartu
>     and visited the town hall office and declared that she wanted to
>     vote in the upcoming elections. With documents, she proved that
>     her father was an Estonian citizen (the magistrates have the records
>     on the citizens of the Estonian republic (1918-1940). Consequently
>     she got a documentation that she is an Estonian citizen and is
>     entitled to vote (So, some kind of registration was required.).


Thank you very much again, Tapani, for posting this detailed and valuable
information.

Dmitry