Mr. Speaker. the editorial of the October 12. 1998. edition of The Washington Post very appropriately lauds the continued progress Latvia is making in perfecting its democratic form of government. especially as it relates to the complex and controversial subject of extending citizenship and civil rights to the very large proportion of noncitizens which reside in that country. Of the estimated 600.000 noncitizens in a population of 2.5 million. most of the noncitizens are Russian nationals who are part of or ancestors of the Russian populations encouraged to resettle in Latvia by the Soviets after their brutal subjugation of the Baltic states to implement the infamous MolotovRibbentrop Pact of 1939. Many of the Latvians including their president. Kariis Ulmanis. were forcibly removed to Siberia to fall unspeakable hardship and death. Despite the understandable frustration and anger among Latvians of their loss of independence under the domination of the Soviet Union. the Latvian votes commendably rejected a referendum that would have derailed legislation to liberalize the requirements for obtaining citizenship for its noncitizen residents. In a country like Latvia. where ethnic Latvians now make up slightly less than half of the people living there. Latvian voters have sensibly recognized the reality of the changes it must make to maintain domestic tranquility and integrate its citizens into a unified force to build its future and reduce one crucial element of controversy with its neighbor. the Russian Federation.
Keywords matched
noncitizen noncitizens