 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Finnish. (November 2015)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
 Adolph Joffe (Soviet Russia, left) signing the Treaty of Tartu | |
| Type | Peace treaty |
|---|---|
| Signed | 2 February 1920 (1920-02-02) |
| Location | Tartu,Estonia |
| Parties | |
TheTreaty of Tartu (Estonian:Tartu rahu,lit. 'Tartu peace',Russian:Тартуский договор) is apeace treaty that was signed inTartu on 2 February 1920 between theRepublic of Estonia andSoviet Russia, ending the 1918–1920Estonian War of Independence. In the treaty,Bolshevik Russia recognized the independence of the newly established state ofEstonia.
The terms of the treaty stated: "In consequence of the right of all peoples to self-determination, to the point of seceding completely from the State of which they form part, a right proclaimed by the Socialist and Federal Russian Republic of the Soviets, Russia unreservedly recognizes the independence and sovereignty of the State of Estonia, and renounces voluntarily and forever all sovereign rights possessed by Russia over the Estonian people and territory whether these rights be based on the juridical position that formerly existed in public law, or in the international treaties which, in the sense here indicated, lose their validity in future." Ratifications of the treaty were exchanged in Moscow on 30 March 1920. It was registered inLeague of Nations Treaty Series on 12 July 1922.[1]
Estonia had been a province ofImperial Russia since 1721.[2] In 1917, three years intoWorld War I, the Russian Empire fell into revolution and civil war. As a part of this larger conflict, the Estonians declared independence from the then warring Russian andGerman Empires, and won their freedom during theEstonian War of Independence. The new Bolshevik Russian government acknowledged Estonia's freedom in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.[3]
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 evacuated to Russia inWorld War I be returned to Estonia. Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic also agreed to absolve all Russian Imperial debt and to pay Estonia 15 million goldrubles, a share from the gold reserves of the formerRussian Empire. AdditionallyRSFSR 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.[4]
.jpg)
The treaty was signed byJaan Poska on the Estonian side andAdolf Joffe for Soviet Russia, as well as by other representatives of both parties.[citation needed]
The Tartu Peace Treaty has been regarded as thebirth certificate of the Republic of Estonia because it was the firstde jure recognition of the state.[5] The treaty was also of utmost importance to the diplomatically isolated Soviet Russia, withLenin expressing satisfaction with the treaty as "an incomparable victory over Western imperialism".[4] Some members of theEntente opposed the treaty with the intention to keep Soviet Russia in international isolation.[citation needed]
After the signing, Soviet Russia did not fulfill several points of the treaty. For example, the museological collections of theUniversity of Tartu have not been returned to this day fromVoronezh[6] and the migration of Estonians was obstructed.[7]
In 1940–1941 and 1944–1991 Estonia wasoccupied by theSoviet Union.
TheEstonia–Russia border today leaves some land granted to Estonia by the Treaty of Tartu under Russian control.[8]
