Terve! Shumbra chi! Dear brothers and sisters, I am Boläeń Syreś!
Today, you are gathered in Hancock, an American city of free people—the heart of Finnish-American culture and the Cultural Capital of the Finno-Ugric World 2026. I am over eight thousand kilometers away from you, and I do not know most of you personally. Yet, I address you as brothers and sisters! Because the roots that feed the Finnish Sisu are the very same roots that give life to the Erzya people on the banks of the Volga River. It is no coincidence that our neighbors say, “As stubborn as an Erzya.” We know and honor your Kalevala, but our people also have an epic called Mastorava—Mother Earth. We, too, had our own Kalev, and his name was Inyazor Tyushtya!
Like you, our nation had singers who praised our people and the beauty of the Erzya language. In Soviet times, our great poet Yakov Kuldurkaev was sentenced to twenty years in labor camps for his epic poem Ermez. Twenty years in the Gulag just for the Erzya word! He wrote: “This is not the Forest Spirit crying out, nor a bear frightening children—this is our village Elder calling upon the people for prayer!” Twenty years in a camp for a poem about the Erzya people!
So, who are the Erzya? Why did the Moscow authorities fear us then, and why do they fear us now? We are a nation of deep wisdom, ancient songs, and an unbroken spirit. Our epic Mastorava tells the story of a people who love their land, their forests, and their freedom above all else. We see ourselves as an inseparable part of nature. The earth beneath our feet is the ashes of our ancestors. The water in our rivers is their blood. We breathe air that still remembers their breath. Our soil has absorbed both the blood and sweat of our forefathers, and it gives us strength, tranquility, and confidence! We know that any harm done to nature is harm done to ourselves. This deep sense of guardianship over the environment is in our blood—just like it is in yours.
Long ago, Inyazor Purgaz bequeathed us to preserve ourselves as a nation so that we might one day reclaim our land. For centuries, the Erzya have lived under occupation and assimilation. Our numerous uprisings did not succeed, but they were not in vain. We survived as a nation. We are here. Today in Russia, on our historical soil, our children are barred from learning our language in schools. Our history is banned. Our activists, who try to save our language and people, are persecuted simply for speaking their mother tongue. And yet, we stand here today. We did not vanish.
Today, the Erzya people are transforming from a cultural community into a political subject. The nation-building process that began before the collapse of the Soviet Union has borne fruit. We have our own national system of self-governance: the Atyan Ezem (Council of Elders), our Inyazor (Chief Elder), and our modern constitution—the Koyluv. Four years ago, the Erzya National Congress decreed that we can survive and thrive as a free nation, equal among others, only within our own sovereign state—Erzya Mastor (The Land of the Erzyas). Today, we clearly see our future as an independent, sovereign nation.
The Finnish people were once under the rule of the Moscow Empire, just like our kindred brothers, the Estonians. But you achieved your freedom, and your journey inspires us! We are inspired by the example of the free people of the United States. Your success gives us hope. Today, the reality for Finno-Ugric peoples remaining in Russia—be they Erzya, Udmurt, Komi, Moksha, or Karelian—is the reality of disenfranchised servants.
No, we do not come here asking for financial aid or money. We ask you to hear our voice. We ask you to stand with us in solidarity and to think together about the future of all Finno-Ugric nations. We believe that our peoples deserve a life of happiness, dignity, and freedom. And we believe that this future is coming—and coming soon. As written in the poem Ermez: “Shkas a vasolo, se shkas malaso”—The time is not far, the time is near!
