Timeline

The Estonian Atlantic Treaty Association celebrates its 22nd birthday this year. During this time, a large number of events have taken place both in the world and in Estonia, and even a new generation has grown into adulthood, for whom the beginning of events remains before they were even born. Next, you will have the opportunity to sit in a virtual time machine with us to take a small journey through those years.

Thus, at the turn of the century, the idea of creating a non-governmental organization introducing NATO activities and membership in Estonia, following the example of other NATO countries, was born. The initiative group included Tiia Kurik, Madis Mikko, Liis Klaar and Trivimi Velliste.

On February 2, 2001, the founding meeting of the Estonian NATO Association will be held in the hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kalev Stoicescu is elected as the chairman of the council and Jörgen Siil as the manager. The main goal of the association is to introduce NATO to the Estonian public.

In the first year of operation, the lecture series "Let's talk about NATO" was organized and various seminars were organized in cooperation with the NATO Information Center, and a delegation of the umbrella organization of NATO Associations ATA (Atlantic Treaty Association) visited Estonia, after which the Estonian NATO Association also became a member of ATA.

In November 2002, EATA representatives will travel to the NATO summit in Prague as part of the cooperation project of the Baltic NATO Associations "Next Stop-NATO". In 2002, Estonia received an official invitation to join NATO.

On March 26, 2003, NATO's accession protocols are signed with seven new member states, including Estonia. The ratification process begins in the member states.

A year later, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia, Juhan Parts, hands over the letter of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty to the US Secretary of State. Estonia will become a member of NATO from now on.

In September 2005, the 51st General Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association, the umbrella organization of NATO Associations, will be held in Tallinn, where more than 200 foreign guests will participate.

EATA volunteers also contributed to the organization of the Ukrainian Commission held in November 2008. The event brought to Tallinn the defense ministers of the USA, the Czech Republic, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Ukraine, Denmark and Albania, as well as NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop

In 2010, a summit meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states will be held in Tallinn, one of the main organizers of which is the Estonian NATO Association.

At the same time, the Estonian NATO Association organized a NATO day on Freedom Square in Tallinn, where those interested could take part in discussions about NATO, enjoy the performance of the band Smilers and watch the documentary film "Afghanistan is looking for a superstar". The discussions were mediated to the public by Kuku radio and Delfi.

In 2011, the Carolin Illenzeer Fund was established with the participation of EATA, whose aim is to collect funds for the support of children of the Estonian Defense Forces who died or were injured in service.

In April 2011, the Baltic-Russian Youth Forum will be held for the first time.

In 2012, the round table of the UN Security Council resolution "Women, Peace and Security" will be held in Estonia for the first time.

In 2013, the international youth conference "NATO & EU Round Table" will be held for the first time, where a total of 120 students and young officials applied, and 50 of them were selected to participate. The panel part of the conference will be held in the Olümpia Hotel in Tallinn, and the simulation and debate part will be held in Saka Manor in Ida-Virumaa.

On May 7, 2013, the third round table in the series "Women, Peace and Security" will be held, where for the first time a high-level foreign speaker, former Finnish defense minister Elisabeth Rehn, will participate. The panel also received considerable media coverage.

In the summer of 2013, EATA, in cooperation with the National Defense Regiment, organizes a camp for the youth of Tallinn and Ida-Virumaa called "Basics of national defense" with the aim of introducing the basics of national defense, the Defense Force and the Defense League. It also promoted national defense education for high schools.

In January 2014, George W. Bush sends a greeting to EATA members on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of joining NATO.

On March 28, 2014, the presentation of the book "Estonian NATO story 1991-2004" will take place in the Riigikogu's white hall. The book summarizes the circumstances and key events of Estonia's accession to NATO. More than 30 authors contributed to the preparation of the book.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of joining NATO, EATA is organizing a spectacular event at the airport, where Estonian and allied military equipment will be displayed and foreign policy and military experts will perform. It was at this event that for the first time there was an opportunity to purchase blue flowers of the "Let's give honor" campaign.

In the spring of 2014, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Estonia, before which the North Atlantic Council approves the increase of NATO's presence in the Baltic countries. As part of the latter, Tapale is home to a US armored unit.

In the same year, the NATONIA game wins the NATO youth creative competition.

In October 2014, the first conference of the series "Estonian Security: My Contribution" will be held, which is dedicated to developing the foundations of a comprehensive approach to civil protection. The conference was also organized in 2015, 2016 and 2017, i.e. until the Government of the Republic of Estonia approved the comprehensive approach plan for population protection.

On Women's Day 2015, a conference will be held in Narva within the framework of the "Women, Peace and Security" project, which is dedicated to the security issues arising from the specific nature of the border town. The panels discuss the security of the border town, social satisfaction and opportunities to contribute to national defense. More than a hundred people will participate in the conference.

In Põltsamaa Ühisgimnaasium, in cooperation with EATA, the cyber protection course is opened, which also received the "Educational Action of the Year 2015" and "European Crime Prevention Award" awards.

2016 marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of EATA, in celebration of which, events introducing NATO and security issues will take place all over Estonia throughout the year, together with Postimehe, a series of opinion articles "Ten Myths about NATO" will be released, the EATA website will get a new look, and the EATA newsletter will be published once a month members and cooperation partners.

In October 2016, the first NATO civil society working group panel will be held in Brussels, to which EATA was also invited. Krista Mulenok represented the association at the meeting.

In 2016, EATA will for the first time send an Estonian youth team to the international IT competition "European Cyber Security Challenge", where the participants had to solve various tasks related to cyber security. In order to identify the participants, the association organized a pan-Estonian preliminary round in cooperation with the Education Information Technology Foundation and the Kehtna Vocational Education Center, the winners of which were given various thematic trainings as part of the preparation for the competition.

In 2017, EATA received the voluntary friend badge, which is issued by Eesti Külaliikumine Kodukant together with the Ministry of the Interior. The badge is awarded to organizations that have thoroughly thought through the involvement of volunteers and organized it in accordance with good practice. The badge was handed over by the Minister of the Interior in a solemn ceremony.

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Estonia, within the framework of which a number of different events took place all over Estonia throughout the year, many of which EATA took part in one way or another.

From the fall of 2018 to the spring of 2019, EATA organizes the event series "NATO 70/Estonia 15", which was dedicated to the anniversary of Estonia's membership in NATO and the 70th anniversary of NATO. Various public events, seminars and creative competitions were aimed at both Estonian and Russian-speaking young people, teachers as well as the general public and received a warm welcome.

In the spring of 2019, an international competition of the NATONIA online game will be held, the winners of which will be rewarded with a trip to the NATO headquarters in Brussels

In October 2019, a digital textbook for the cyber defense elective course for high school will be published in cooperation with EATA, the Ministry of Education and Research, TalTech, the Estonian Informatics Teachers' Society and Kehtna Vocational Education Center.

In October 2019, the Estonian team will participate in the NATO 70 race in Budapest, where they had to cover 10 kilometers. Estonia was represented by Mark Abner and EATA members Hindrek Lootus, Kersti Siilivask, Krista Mulenok and Peeter Võsu.

In cooperation with the British Embassy, in November 2019, EATA will organize a multi-part master class aimed at young people and dedicated to the 70th anniversary of NATO, where young people will be able to meet British Defense Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Hing, Ambassador Theresa Bubbear and British soldiers to discuss hybrid threats and the security problems of various NATO member states.

Also, in November of the same year, within the framework of the NATO70 project, a round table of experts organized by EATA will be held in Tallinn, the summary of which will be forwarded to the NATO leadership in Brussels and the "Transatlantic Policy Planners Meeting" in London.

At the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic will take over the world, due to which the borders of many countries will be closed and various gathering, movement and activity restrictions will be imposed. EATA starts looking for new ways to act in the circumstances. Webinars, various video solutions and social media campaigns are used. Since teaching in schools has been moved to distance learning, EATA releases an educational video for high schools, in which NATO, EATA, the NATONIA game and various aspects of modern information warfare are introduced.

In June 2020, under the leadership of NATO, the Canadian Embassy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia and the Estonian NATO Association, the round table "Women, Peace and Security" will be held, the purpose of which was to collect and map women's opinions and attitudes in the field of security and national defense.

On July 29, one of the vice-presidents of the Atlantic Treaty Association, the umbrella organization of NATO Associations, was elected for the first time from the Baltic states. Jim Townsend from the USA was elected president of the association, and Alex Serban from Romania and Werner Fasslabend from Austria and Krista Mulenok from Estonia were elected vice presidents.

EATA launched a social media campaign WORD OF TRUTH to inform different social groups about what the information war of the 21st century is and how to recognize it and avoid self-manipulation.

The Estonian NATO Association is hosting the Japanese ambassador, Mr. Kitaoka.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas spoke at the "NATO-EU Round Table" conference

To show solidarity with the Ukrainian state, the Baltic-Russian Youth Forum has become the Baltic-Ukrainian Youth Forum. Representatives from NATO will also participate in the event.

The conference "Women, Peace and Security" will discuss for the first time the role of gender implementation advisors in the armed forces.

Finland joins NATO and Finland becomes the 31st member state.

Image: PX_MEDIA

The NATO-European Union Round Table will be opened by President Alar Karis

The chairwoman of the Estonian NATO Association represented the association at the NATO Summit in Vilnius.