Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)

Tartu Peace Treaty (Estonian: "Tartu rahu", literally "Tartu peace") or Treaty of Tartu was a peace treaty between Estonia and Russian SFSR signed in February 2, 1920 ending the Estonian War of Independence. The terms of the treaty stated that "Russia unreservedly recognizes" the independence of Republic of Estonia "de jure" and renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia.

Treaty provisions

The treaty established the border between Estonia and Russia, affirmed the right of Estonian people to return to Estonia and Russian people to return to Russia and required that Estonian movable property evacuatd to Russia in the World War I be returned to Estonia. Russia also agreed to absolve all debt from Tsarist times and to pay Estonia 15 million gold rubles, a proportional share from gold reserves of former Russian Empire. Additionally Russia agreed to grant concessions to exploit one million hectares of Russian forest land and to build a railway line from the Estonian border to Moscow. In return, Estonia undertook to allow the RSFSR to build a free port at Tallinn or some other harbour and to erect a power station on the Narva River.Georg von Rauch, "The Baltic States: The Years of Independence 1917-1940, Hurst & Co, 1974, p73]

Signatories

The treaty was signed by Jaan Poska on Estonian side and Adolf Joffe for the Soviet Russia as well as by other representatives of both parties.

Significance

Tartu Peace Treaty is regarded as the "birth certificate" of the Republic of Estonia. The treaty was also of utmost importance to the diplomatically isolated Soviet Russia, with Lenin expressing satisfaction with the treaty as "an incomparable victory over Western imperialism". Some members of the Entente opposed the treaty with the intention to keep Soviet Russia in international isolation.

Aftermath

After signing, Soviet Russia failed to fulfill several points of the treaty, e.g. the museological collections of the University of Tartu have not been returned to this day from Voronezh [ [http://www.ut.ee/index.aw?section=182474&set_lang_id=2 UT ART MUSEUM PRESENTED CATALOGUE OF UNIVERSITY ART COLLECTION HELD AT VORONEZH, RUSSIA] ] and the migration of Estonians was obstructed [Ülo Kaevats et al. 1996. "Eesti Entsüklopeedia 9". Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus, ISBN 5-89900-047-3] .

See also

* Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Finnish)
* [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Peace_between_Russia_and_Estonia Text of the treaty in wikisource]

References

* [http://www.juridica.ee/international_en.php?document=en/international/2005/1/95058.ART.0.pub.php Which Continuity: The Tartu Peace Treaty of 2 February 1920, the Estonian–Russian Border Treaties of 18 May 2005, and the Legal Debate about Estonia’s Status in International Law]