FEDERAL UNION OF EUROPEAN NATIONALITIES EXAMINED THE SITUATION OF A RUSSIA'S MINORITY

The 10th international congress of Finno-Ugric Studies ended yesterday in Yoshkar-Ola, capital city of the Republic of Mari El in the Russian Federation. The congress lasted six days and was attended by nearly five hundred researchers of Finno-Ugric and Samoyed languages and peoples, including 132 foreign scholars.

On Wednesday, after the workshops, the late President of the congress Yuri Anduganov was commemorated. The commemorative evening was guided by one of Anduganov's close friends, Chairman of the Mari Congress Laid Shemier (Vladimir Kozlov) who gave the floor to relatives and colleagues of the late President. The memory of a good colleague and friend was honoured by Prof. Péter Domokos and Prof. Gábor Bereczki (Hungary), Chairman of the Finnish Committee of Fennougrists Sirkka Saarinen, Chairman of the Estonian Committee of Fennougrists Tonu Seilenthal, Prof. Lázló Honti (Italy) and many other noted fennougrists. Representatives of the Republic of Mari El and the Mari National University did not attend.

The commemoration was followed by a reception arranged by the three Finnish-Ugric countries. Fennougrists were welcomed by Estonian Education and Science Minister Mailis Reps, Finnish ambassador in the Russian Federation Harry Gustaf Helenius and temporary Charge d'Affaires of Hungary in the Russia Federation Jozsef Vajda. The Estonian embassy in Moscow presented Russian participants with the 2006 Kindred Peoples Calendar published by the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Fenno-Ugria Foundation. The organisers of the Congress did not hand invitations to the reception to all participants as requested.

According to the decision by the International Committee of Congresses of Finno-Ugric Studies, the next 11th Congress will be held in 2010 in Piliscsaba, Hungary. Prof. Sándor Csúcs was proposed as its President.

At the closing ceremony, Hungarian scholar Prof. Gábor Bereczki, holder of the Estonian Maarjamaa Cross, was awarded the certificate of Honored Scientist of the Republic of Mari Eli. Bereczki has been studied the Mari people and their language for over fifty years. He and musicologist Lázló Vikár are co-authors of a fundamental collection of Mari folk songs.

Yesterday afternoon, President of the Republic of Mari El Leonid Markelov gave a reception to the participants. Vladimir Kozlov who is among the opposition leaders was invited neither to this reception nor to the closing plenary session, although he made a presentation at the congress.