Erzya National Congress convened in exile in the Estonian city of Otepää on September 30, 2022, to discuss the intensification of repression in the Russian Federation. After discussions, the delegates adopted important resolutions regarding new goals and tasks for the national movement, including the struggle for the independence of the Erzyas and the separation of the Erzyan territory from the Russian Federation.
The Erzyas are one of the largest Finno-Ugric ethnic groups in the Russian Federation, residing in the Volga region. In the All-Russian censuses, the Erzya population is often recorded under the exonym “Mordva,” grouping them together with the Moksha people as a single ethnic group. Such unification complicates the calculation of the Erzya population. The total number of Erzya people is approximately 500,000 individuals. The Erzyan language belongs to the Uralic language family, specifically the Finno-Volgaic group. It is one of the three official languages of the Republic of Mordovia, alongside Moksha and Russian. Erzya people adhere to Christianity (Orthodoxy and Lutheranism) as well as the Erzyan native religion.
Repression and struggle for independence
They are one of the oppressed peoples by Moscow, who have their own system of national representative bodies. It includes a Congress of delegates from Erzyan political parties and civic associations, a council of elders, and a people’s court.
The Erzyan national movement has officially condemned the Russian government’s conduct of the war against Ukraine three times: once in 2014 and twice in 2022. The arson attack on a military commissariat in Ruzaevka (Republic of Mordovia), as well as the distribution of anti-military leaflets in Saransk in July 2022, are associated with the Erzyan underground movement. Erzyan volunteers are fighting against the Russian Federation in Ukraine, and there is confirmed data on losses among Erzya people.
The Russian authorities, through intimidation and persecution of activists, attempted to take control of key Erzyan institutions. Failing in their attempt, they created parallel representative bodies led by government employees, individuals dependent on the authorities.
“The intensification of repression in our native lands, the creation of fake self-organization structures by Moscow to manipulate our people, as well as new military and political challenges in the Russian Federation, prompted us to convene an immediate Congress in exile. We prepared for it in record time, less than three months. There was no debate about the location of the Congress. Estonia is the dawn of the Finno-Ugric world, our advocate, and our hope. The Estonian people are our kin; we emerged from the same historical and cultural cradle. Just as Turkey is not a foreign country for Azerbaijanis, Estonia is not a distant land for us,” explained the chairman of the Congress organizing committee.
In the morning of September 30, the parish leadership, Estonian politicians and cultural figures, journalists, and scientists arrived in Otepää. The entire town was adorned with flags of Estonia and Erzya. The presence of the national flag in Otepää is strongly felt, as the first Estonian flag was consecrated in the local church in 1884. The opening of the Congress was marked by a ceremony of hoisting the Estonian flag and the national flag of Erzya, the use of which has been targeted by the FSB and the police this year, with the persecution of Erzya people in their homeland in the Republic of Mordovia.
The meeting in the conference hall began with a minute of silence and a tribute to the memory of Erzya warrior and serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksiy Veshchevaylov. He had planned to attend the Congress as a delegate but tragically lost his life on September 26 in a battle with Russian military on the Bakhmut direction in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. The rest of the Erzya soldiers fighting on the side of Ukraine were supposed to represent the Erzya military brotherhood. One of them managed to obtain a 4-day leave and make it to Estonia. When the young Erzya soldier entered the conference hall in his military uniform, he immediately caught the attention of the press and the Estonian community.
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“The significance of this event for our country cannot be overstated. Essentially, our people found themselves behind the iron curtain. More than a third of the delegates were unable to attend the Congress. The Russian authorities exerted pressure even on those Erzya individuals who remained in Russia and were involved in the preparation and conduct of the Congress remotely. There were people who could not cross all the borders and did not make it to Estonia. However, despite all the obstacles, we managed to convene the Congress and involve not only the elders but also the youth,” shared Olexander Butyaikyn, a fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a young Erzya veteran.
Formation of Erzyan Mastor and international support
Very contentious political issues were brought before the delegates for consideration. Consensus was reached on the most challenging issue: state building. The survival of the Erzya people as part of the Russian Federation was deemed impossible. The delegates opted for the establishment of the federative land of Erzyan Mastor.
After heated discussions, the delegates declared that continued existence within the territories of compact Erzya habitation in the Russian Federation would lead to the final disappearance of the Erzya people: “No aspect of Russian Federation or Republic of Mordovia policy is aimed at preserving the Erzya people, their national identity, culture, language, or religion. Moreover, the Kremlin’s policy towards the Erzya, as well as other Finno-Ugric peoples, aims for their rapid assimilation into the Russian ethnicity. The Russian Federation is pursuing a policy of concealed ethnocide against the Erzya people.”
The Erzyas not only accused the Russian government of ethnocide but also directly expressed their desire to create a separate state, outlining its borders, political form, and governance structure in detail. The realization of the Erzya people’s right to preserve and develop their national identity, language, and culture will be enshrined in the Constitution of the Erzyan Mastor. The territory of the state will include lands from the Republic of Mordovia, Penza, Ulyanovsk, parts of Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, and Samara regions. The state will have the following administrative structure: 8 cantons (including two Tatar national cantons) and the autonomous Moksha Republic. The capital of the federation will be Saran Osh. The state emblem and anthem have been approved.
The Congress also decided that until the attainment of independence for Erzyan Mastor, the struggle of Erzya people for self-determination will be led by the popular representative bodies and the Chief Elder. Only Erzya individuals can participate in the formation of these representative bodies. The Congress recognizes as Erzya those who openly and publicly declare their affiliation with the Erzya nation and can prove their kinship with a person of Erzya origin, regardless of the level of family ties. An Erzya person is also someone who has acquired proficiency in the Erzya language sufficient for free communication and recognizes themselves as part of the Erzya nation, even without a drop of Erzyan blood.
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The Congress condemned the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the mobilization in the lands of indigenous peoples, expressed solidarity with protesters in Dagestan, Yakutia, and other colonial republics, supported the Declaration on the Decolonization of Russia adopted in Prague on July 23, 2022, at the Forum of Free Peoples of Russia, and called on all oppressed peoples of the Russian Federation to fight for the collapse of the empire and the establishment of independent states in the occupied lands of these peoples.
As guests, representatives of the Komi, Karelians, Ingrians, and Mari people participated in the Congress. Estonian politicians and even military personnel were observed in the corridors, having arrived in Otepää to conduct a series of closed meetings.
“The interest of Estonians in us as a native people has noticeably increased. The main thing is that the Congress has sharply shifted the Erzya topic from the realm of folklore to the political arena. There is an energy in the air: both Erzya people and Estonians understand that Russia has entered the final stage of its existence, and in 2024, the borders of new states will be determined,” a member of the Congress presidium, a political emigrant of the new wave, shared his impressions.
We can say that the desired is becoming a reality. However, in the Russian Federation, there are around a hundred peoples who have been repressed by Russians, many of whom have expressed not only dissatisfaction but also a desire for freedom and statehood. The Erzya people have at least two fraternal members, or nearly members, of NATO: Estonia and Finland. And, frankly speaking, this is just the beginning.
Originally posted by Askold Lozynskyy on Ukrinform. Translated and edited by the UaPosition – Ukrainian news and analytics website
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