The situation around refusing entry to Estonia, director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Tishkov was compounded by the unfriendly comments from all sides. Polit.ru site published a letter by russian scientists dedicated to this problem.
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On October 12, 2014 the Estonian passport control officers refused entrance to V.A. Tishkov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. After spending the night at Tallinn airport he had to return to Moscow, the next flight departing only the following morning. Feeling offended, irritated and exhausted, he expressed his indignation in two Facebook posts that were immediately distributed via social and mass media and published on the official website of RAS Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. This was followed by a Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement. In the tense political climate of these days, the continuing discussions around the incident are becoming increasingly scandalous.
Sympathizing with the elderly man, who unexpectedly and without any reasons explained was treated in such a humiliating manner, we consider it necessary to give attention to the other side of the matter that has been almost completely excluded from public discussions.
Already in his first post V.A. Tishkov called, in case the Estonian government doesn’t apologize (although it is a well-known fact that no government, Estonian or Russian, ever apologizes for acts of this kind), to sever relations with the Estonian scholars (who have however nothing to do with the Tallinn airport incident), at the same time characterizing them in highly insulting terms. In his second post though he decided no to reject cooperation but didn’t withdraw his offensive remarks and pejorative terms. Shall we then be surprised that the Estonian scholars are holding back from expressing their sympathy with V.A. Tishkov or from condemning their administration, or that the most temperamental of them (see Urmas Sutrop’s comments) are using retaliatory insults of the same style addressed to the Russian science in general and all Russian scholars.
In the harsh Soviet times, the best of our country’s humanities scholars could stick with great dignity to the ethical principles of the intellectual scholar brotherhood that ignored national or ideological borders. The Estonian city of Tartu was the place where lived and lectured Yury Lotman, whose works were the pride of our country’s science; among his students there were Russians, Estonians, and many others equally lucky to have this honour. He was head of the famous Moscow-Tartu semiotic school, a milestone in the humanities of the second half of the 20th century. These ties were maintained over the post-Soviet decades, and today the University of Tartu is no less appealing for the Russian researchers in the humanities.
Since it is obvious that no apologies for the offensive words will follow, we, the Russian scholars who signed this letter, consider it our duty to take this mission upon ourselves and apologize to all those who felt hurt by the words of V.A. Tishkov, which we hope were said merely on the spur of the moment. It is superfluous to add that we have great respect for the Estonian scholars, our colleagues and friends, as well as for the Estonian science.
We call to everyone who values international solidarity in the scientific community to make every possible effort to put a stop to the spiralling mutual accusations and the growing embitterment