War of Memories: Explaining "Memorials War" in Estonia

The events of April 2007 brought Estonia and Tallinn to the headlines of the international press. A country that was considered as a transition miracle and had the image of a peaceful Nordic country was suddenly reported as a battlefield of ethnic tensions. The centre of the capital, Tallinn, was bust up within one night and the Estonian government had to engage volunteers to help police suppress the riots in Tallinn and NorthEast Estonia. All Estonian society was shocked and it paralysed the communication between Estonian and Russian-speaking communities in Estonia. In addition to domestic developments, the Russian government and its pro-governmental organisations started to press for the resignation of the Estonian government, adding international dimension to the domestic affairs. All these events have raised several questions: What has happened? Why did it happen? Are they part of general developments? Or is it just a small exception? Was it an internal conflict or a part of a broader international conflict? Although a year has passed since the troubled April days, we are still unable to find proper answers, and there are far too many different narratives circling around to explain the events. The following article includes different perspectives and also dimensions to understand the complexity of the April 2007 events in Estonia. The author claims that the most comprehensive way to define the conflict is to analyse it in the framework of “War of Memories” and that it is crucial to analyse the events separately on domestic and international levels.