ANALYSIS: The new minorities of Eastern Europe in the wake of communism's collapse (05/02/99)

ANALYSIS

The new minorities of Eastern Europe in the wake of communism's collapse

by David R. Marples

The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in the Soviet Union in 1991 effectively liberated millions of people from a harsh dictatorship. At the same time it left large minorities in the newly formed republics who were effectively citizens of neither the former nor present countries. Over the past seven years their situation has deteriorated alarmingly as the new states have sought to develop a national identity and promote national cultures that had often lain dormant for decades.

The biggest single minority problem in Eastern Europe is that of the former Yugoslavia, where ethnic strife has been rampant and the government of Serbia has been an advocate for Serbian rights vis-à-vis the other minority groups. The problem is an old one that dates back to the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, but which was exacerbated by the bitter fighting during the second world war.

After Yugoslavia, however, the crucial issue is that of Russians living outside Russia. It is estimated that about 25 million Russians live in former Soviet territories outside the Russian Federation, but only some 150,000 are Russian citizens with the right to vote in elections. Almost a quarter of the population of Ukraine - over 11 million people - is composed of ethnic Russians. Russians also make up 35 percent of the population of Kazakstan, 32 percent in Latvia, 29 percent in Estonia, 13.5 percent in Belarus and 13 percent in Moldova.

In some republics, such as Belarus and Ukraine (outside of Crimea), Russians are largely an invisible minority. But in others, most notably Latvia and Estonia, they have been regarded as an unwanted hangover from the Soviet period. In 1997 the situation for the Russian minority in Estonia improved considerably and the Council of Europe declared that there was no need for further monitoring of the situation there.

In Latvia, on the other hand, the treatment of the Russian minority has elicited international concern and it remains the chief impediment to normal relations between Latvia and the Russian Federation. The Russian population has been largely disenfranchised. The EU turned down Latvia's request for membership last year because of its treatment of its Russian minority.

Arguably the two northern Baltic states have suffered enough this century from Russian intrusions and invasion. However, the right to exist as independent states surely precludes maltreatment of any minority, whether or not it carries an association with the suffering of the Soviet period.

The Russians make up a majority of the population of the autonomous republic of the Crimea and over the period 1992-1996 the Ukrainian government of Kyiv had to deal with a succession of mini-revolts and constitutional questions. The Crimeans even appointed Russians from the Russian Federation to the autonomous republic's Cabinet [of Ministers]. The Russian Duma, in turn, - supported by jingoistic politicians such as Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov - has laid claim to the port of Sevastopol and declared that the transfer of Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 was invalid.

The situation in the Crimea has been complicated by improving relations between Russia and Ukraine (ultimately Sevastopol has been divided up by bays between the Ukrainian and Russian fleets, with the latter being given a 20-year lease) and by the return of a significant portion of Crimean Tatar families, whose predecessors were deported en masse by Stalin at the end of the second world war. Generally the Kyiv government has promoted the rights of the Tatars, often angering local Russian citizens.

The complex situation in the former Soviet Union - and I have excluded issues such as Georgians in Abkhazia, ethnic strife in Central Asia and others - is mirrored by that in some countries of Eastern Europe.

Paradoxically, Poland, which was virtually torn asunder by minority problems in the inter-war years, is today basically homogenous. In the post-war version of the Polish state, Poles constitute almost 99 percent of the population, a percentage unmatched elsewhere in Europe. The post-war Polish state was created following the forcible exchange of populations with Ukraine in 1944-1946, and the removal of much of its German population. It included the southern portion of former East Prussia and territories in the west that had belonged to Germany in the interwar period.

Both Slovakia and Romania have been accused by the government in Budapest of denying the rights of Hungarians to education in their native language. A British writer has maintained that the Slovaks treat their dogs better than they do the Hungarians. In both these countries Hungarians make up over 10 percent of the population.

Clearly, the new republics of Eastern Europe have some way to go in developing societies that are tolerant of large minorities which, like the Jews in the earlier part of the century, are dependent on the goodwill of struggling governments.

Dr. David R. Marples is a professor of history at the University of Alberta.

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