the porkkala concession (13. 117)

Operated as a Soviet naval base, leased to the USSR under the terms of the Moscow Armistice of 1944, the peninsular for a period of fifty, originally scheduled for repatriation in 1994, was returned to Finland early after eleven years of service on this day in 1956 with the displaced former inhabitants of the communities of Kirkkonummi, Ingå and Siuntio restored their lands. Hosting the bulk of the Baltic fleet and some sixteen thousand sailors and submariners at one point on the borderlands just some thirty kilometres from Helsinki, the withdrawal was based on several political factors in including the Finno-Russian Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of 1948, Khrushchev’s shift away from Stalinism, other basing opportunities and Finland’s own post-war policy of neutrality, which also precluded its accession to NATO. Presently the Pokkala peninsula is home to main base of the Finnish naval forces at Upinniemi.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Welsh labyrinths (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus a real life Voight-Kampff test

twelve years ago: nursing shortages, all-inclusive vacation packages plus more on the monomyth

thirteen years ago: tavern etymologies 

fourteen years ago: the potential of 3D printing plus the right to be forgotten

sixteen years ago: crafty advice plus Davos security chief found dead