Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-12-Speech-4-177"
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"en.20050512.25.4-177"2
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".
Mr President, Czarist Russia was nicknamed the prison of nations, and the Soviet Union was called the gulag of nations. Unfortunately, the collapse of Communism did not bring about freedom, nor did it grant rights to the small nations of Russia. At a conference at the end of last week, Vladimir Kozlov, one of the leaders of today’s opposition, said that real ethnic cleansing is being carried out in the Republic of Mari, especially in administration, the overt goal of which is the elimination of the autonomous Mari Republic. His statement is of no surprise, since the current president of the Republic of Mari is a Russian citizen, the Moscow-born Mr Leonid Markelov, who does not even speak the local language. During his presidency, attacks against free press have become regular, opposition leaders and journalists have been assaulted, including the opposition candidate, Mihail Dolgov, a Mari national, who was brutally assaulted. By the way, no judicial verdict has been reached in any of these cases yet. Mari language schools are being closed down, and education in the Mari language is only allowed in the primary levels of elementary education. Only Russian can be used in administration, all of this pointing to the fact that this minority’s rights are seriously restricted.
An agreement, called the action plan, was ceremoniously concluded between the EU and Russia the day before yesterday. At last, we have an opportunity to provide direct assistance to those who live there, instead of just condemning Russia’s practice. This plan allows us to cooperate in the field of minority rights, that is, to promote the use of minority languages, preservation of cultures, the publication of textbooks, to encourage exchange programmes, scientific and scholarship schemes, and to foster an independent media and education in the mother tongue. This action plan also promotes strengthening an independent and unbiased judicial system. We must, therefore, help Russia in order for the offenders to be brought to justice, so that order and safety may finally prevail in the Republic of Mari as well. For this reason, I would like to ask the Commission and the Council to act firmly and provide specific programmes to protect the maltreated Mari minority based on the new agreement."@en1
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