My Four Years in Estonia

My four years in Estonia Ömer Altuğ Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Estonia, 2001–2005 I think it is a great idea to include in the yearbooks of the Estonian Foreign Ministry short essays by ambassadors who have recently left Tallinn upon the termination of their terms of missions. I am indeed thankful to the editors that I have been given the opportunity to contribute. My Estonian experience started on the windy evening of 31 October 2001 on a tur- bulent fl ight from Ankara via Stockholm, as if reminding me of the not-so-easy task lying immediately ahead: setting up a Turkish Embassy and shouldering the responsibility of being the fi rst resident Turkish ambassador in Tallinn. The Radisson SAS Hotel became the initial home and offi ce for me, my wife and our two-year-old daughter. During my fi rst days and weeks in Tallinn my primary collocutors were real estate agencies, employment bureaus, furniture dealers, shops selling stationery items, household goods and appliances, electronics etc. Fortunately, and thanks to their cooperative and effi cient attitude, a functioning embassy was created in a matter of a few months, the chancellery at a historic house located in the city centre on Narva Road and the residence in Merivälja overlooking the beautiful Bay of Tallinn with the Old Town’s silhouette just across. Thereupon I could devote myself more freely to making whatever contribution possible to the furthering of the ever-friendly Turkish- Estonian relations that had been offi cially established as early as in 1924. But from where had I to start? I didn’t have to ponder too long because I had to immerse myself in the preparatory work for our President’s state visit to Estonia. The visit of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on 18–19 April 2002 laid the basic framework within which I had to concentrate my future efforts. My four years in Estonia witnessed another state visit, this time by his H.E. Arnold Rüütel to Turkey, as well as several mutual ministerial visits and many technical-level meetings by the high-ranking offi cials of the two countries, all of which have added further impetus to the fl ourishing bilateral relations. 81 2005 ESTONIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS YEARBOOK The problem-free nature of Turkish-Estonian relations remained unchanged. Many agreements in the fi elds of defense, economic cooperation, trade, business, culture and tourism were signed and started to be implemented. The trade volume, which used to be a very modest 1 million USD ten years ago, reached 100 million USD in 2005. The businessmen of the two countries started to establish direct contacts. Several Turkish cultural manifestations were organized in Tallinn and other cities. The number of Estonian tourists visiting Turkey continued to steeply rise and the Turkish tourists began to discover the attractions of Estonian nature, history and culture. Undoubtedly, there remains much room for improvement in all these fi elds. Apart from all these developments in the context of bilateral relations, my four years in Estonia were also very interesting in terms of witnessing Estonia’s rapid integration with the Western world, especially by becoming member to NATO and the European Union. A map of Europe that was published by the Estonian Ministry of Culture and given to me at my fi rst visit to that institution depicted both Estonia and Turkey as lighthouses overseeing the borders of the Western world. For me this was symbolic of the posi- tive nature of Estonia’s general mindset towards Turkey and the Turkish people. It also meant that Turkey and Estonia were in the same boat that was sailing in waters characterized by common values such as democracy, free market economy, respect to human rights and the rule of law. I am very happy to say that during my whole stay in Estonia I never encountered anything that could change the message that was embedded in that map. During my four years in Estonia the doors of every echelon of the state apparatus were always open to me. My interlocutors always distinguished themselves with their correctness, candor and punctuality, traits that make life easy for a foreign diplomat, if not for all human beings. What impressed me above all was their very strong sense of pride over their national culture, language and history, as well as consciousness about the present and the future, all of which is very similar to the main characteristics of the Turkish people. I have every reason to believe that the future for Turkey and Estonia is very bright. I hope that I have made many friends in my four years in Estonia and that our paths will cross again. January 2006, Ankara 82.

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