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Kohtu 4 – Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja attends the book launch of the history of the Embassy in Tallinn

Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Publication date 21.4.2015 13.27
Press release 107/2015

Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja will participate in the book launch event of the history of the Embassy of Finland in Tallinn, Kohtu 4, on 22 April. Tuomioja will open the event to be held at the Embassy in Tallinn. The launch event will be attended by the Estonian Minister of Defence Sven Mikser, too.

The new book, Kohtu 4, by Jussi Pekkarinen, the historian, tells the story of the Embassy of Finland in Tallinn from 1918 until today. The book will be published in Finnish and in Estonian at the same time.

Kohtu 4 is the street address of the Embassy and means Court Street in English. It is the oldest embassy building Finland has anywhere in the world. The stately stone building on the Toompea hill with the lion figure on the flag is one of the landmarks of Tallinn and a familiar sight for many Finns, too.

Kohtu 4 describes the history of the Embassy of Finland and its buildings. At the same time it provides a review of the relations between Finland and Estonia over the past 100 years. The book is based on interviews and ambassadors' and envoys' reports and personal notes, according to which developments in Estonia have never been followed without emotion and a strong sense of empathy.

The embassy building has served as a scene of an exceptionally interesting history starting from the 1920s, when Finland first rented it and then bought the building from Konstantin Päts who later served as the President of Estonia. Päts himself continued to live in the premises. After the Soviet Union's occupation of Estonia, the Finnish mission had to leave Tallinn in August 1940. During the decades of occupation, the SS (Shield Squadron) men held the building; later it served as a students' hall of residence and a music library. After Estonia's re-independence, the Embassy of Finland transferred to the familiar building in November 1996.

Jussi Pekkarinen, MSSc and author of non-fiction, works in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as a researcher. He has written several books on the history of the Foreign Service of Finland.

In Finland the book is published by the Finnish Literature Society, SKS, and by Varrak in Estonia.           

Additional information: Counsellor Marjo Näkki, Press and Cultural Affairs, Embassy in Tallinn, tel. +372 5693 0200, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Tero Shemeikka, tel. +358 295 351508 and Counsellor Eevamari Laaksonen, Unit for Northern Europe, tel. +358 295 351 320. 

Erkki Tuomioja
 
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