Politics in Estonia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic,whereby the Prime Minister of Estonia is the head of government,and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Estonian parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government,which is led by the prime minister. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Estonia is a member of the United Nations,the European Union,and NATO.
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,435. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga,Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river,which connects the two largest lakes in Estonia,Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. From the 13th century until the end of the 19th century,Tartu was known in most of the world by variants of its historical name Dorpat.
The University of Tartu is a public research university located in the city of Tartu,Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country. The university was founded under the name of Academia Gustaviana in 1632 by Baron Johan Skytte,the Governor-General of Swedish Livonia,Ingria,and Karelia,with the required ratification provided by King Gustavus Adolphus,shortly before the king's death on 6 November in the Battle of Lützen (1632).
Mart Laar is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's rapid economic development during the 1990s. He is a member of the centre-right Isamaa party.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights in Estonia have advanced significantly over the course of the last few decades,especially since the turn of the 21st century. Among the countries which after World War II were controlled by the former Soviet Union,independent Estonia is now considered to be one of the most liberal when it comes to LGBT rights. There is a notable age gap,as younger people tend to be more tolerant and liberal,while older people tend to be more socially conservative.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Estonia since 1 January 2024. The government elected in the March 2023 election,led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and consisting of the Reform Party,the Social Democrats and Estonia 200,vowed to legalize same-sex marriage. Legislation to open marriage to same-sex couples was introduced to the Riigikogu in May 2023,and was approved in a final reading by 55 votes to 34 on 20 June. It was signed into law by President Alar Karis on 27 June,and took effect on 1 January 2024. Estonia was the first Baltic state,the twentieth country in Europe,and the 35th in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.
In the course of Operation Barbarossa,Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in July–December 1941,and occupied the country until 1944. Estonia had gained independence in 1918 from the then-warring German and Russian Empires. However,in the wake of the August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact,the Soviet Union had invaded and occupied Estonia in June 1940,and the country was formally annexed into the USSR in August 1940.
The Estonian Workers' Commune was a government claiming the Bolshevik-occupied parts of Republic of Estonia as its territories during the Estonian War of Independence and the Russian Civil War. It was recognised as an independent state only by Russian SFSR on December 7th,1918.
The Supreme Court of Estonia is the court of last resort in Estonia. It is both a court of cassation and a constitutional court. The courthouse is in Tartu.
Jaan Poska VR III/1 was an Estonian barrister and politician.
Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II (1939–1945),but the country was repeatedly contested,invaded and occupied,first by the Soviet Union in 1940,then by Nazi Germany in 1941,and ultimately reinvaded and reoccupied in 1944 by the Soviet Union.
The three Baltic countries,or the Baltic states –Estonia,Latvia,and Lithuania –are held to have continued as independent states under international law while under Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991,as well as during the German occupation in 1941–1944/1945. The prevailing opinion accepts the Baltic thesis that the Soviet occupation was illegal,and all actions of the Soviet Union related to the occupation are regarded as contrary to international law in general and to the bilateral treaties between the USSR and the three Baltic countries in particular.
The Estonian Students' Society is the largest and oldest all-male academical student society in Estonia,and is similar to the Baltic German student organizations known as corporations (Corps). It was founded in 1870 at Tartu. It has over 900 members in Estonia and abroad.
Julia Laffranque,is an Estonian jurist,judge,legal scientist,visiting professor of European law Justice at the Supreme Court of Estonia,Judge at the European Court of Human Rights 2011 - 2020. Since 4 June 2018 also a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency,earlier professor of European law at the University of Tartu. Since 2020 member of the Board of Trustees,the Foundation Academy of European Law Trier. In 2019 she was a candidate for the post of European Ombudsman. In 2020 she was appointed as Director of Programme of the European Law Academy (ERA) and in 2021 the Council of the European Union on the proposal of European Parliament by 586 votes in favor,appointed her as a member of Article 255 TFEU panel,which is to give opinion on candidates suitability to perform the duties of judge and advocate general of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union.
The Estonian Sovereignty Declaration,fully:Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Estonian SSR,was issued on 16 November 1988 during the Singing Revolution in the Estonian SSR. The declaration asserted Estonia's sovereignty and the supremacy of the Estonian laws over the laws of the Soviet Union. Estonia's newly elected parliament also laid claim to all natural resources:land,inland waters,forests,mineral deposits and to the means of industrial production,agriculture,construction,state banks,transportation,municipal services,etc. within Estonia's borders.
Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Estonian SSR on 18 March 1990. Altogether 392 candidates ran for the Soviet-style legislature's 105 seats,of which four were pre-allocated to the military districts of the Soviet Army. The pro-independence Popular Front won the plurality. The coalition of the reformed Estonian communists,who favored independence but close relations with the USSR and were supported by Indrek Toome who was running under the Free Estonia banner,won 27 seats. The anti-independence,pro-Moscow "Joint Soviet of Work Collectives",representing mostly the ethnic Russian immigrant minority in Estonia,won 25 seats. During its first session,the new legislature elected the former Communist Party member Arnold Rüütel as its chairman,allowing him to stay as the nominal leader of Estonia.
The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,Soviet Estonia,or simply Estonia,was a union republic of the Soviet Union (USSR),covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991. The Estonian SSR was nominally established to replace the until then independent Republic of Estonia on 21 July 1940,a month after the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet military invasion and occupation of the country during World War II. After the installation of a Stalinist government which,backed by the occupying Soviet Red Army,declared Estonia a Soviet constituency,the Estonian SSR was subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union as a union republic on 6 August 1940. Estonia was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941,and administered as a part of Reichskommissariat Ostland until it was reconquered by the USSR in 1944.
Estonia,officially the Republic of Estonia,is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland,to the west by the sea across from Sweden,to the south by Latvia,and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland,the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa,and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea,covering a total area of 45,335 square kilometres (17,504 sq mi). Tallinn,the capital city,and Tartu are the two largest urban areas. The Estonian language is the indigenous and official language. It is the first language of the majority of the population of 1.4 million.
Eerik-Niiles Kross is an Estonian politician,diplomat,former chief of intelligence and entrepreneur. He is a member of parliament (Riigikogu). During the 1980s,Kross was a prominent figure in the anti-Soviet non-violent resistance movement in Soviet Estonia. After re-independence,in 1991,he joined Estonia's Foreign Ministry. He served as the head of intelligence from 1995 to 2000;and as national security advisor to former President Lennart Meri in 2000 and 2001.
Ülo Varul was an Estonian basketball player who was born and raised in Tartu. He was 190 cm (74.8 in) tall.
