Rumania: Kosovo ’s Actions Hearten a Hungarian Enclave

[Harold Schiffman]

April 7, 2008
Sfantu Gheorghe Journal
Kosovo's Actions Hearten a Hungarian Enclave
By NICHOLAS KULISH


SFANTU GHEORGHE, Romania — Dozens of wreaths trailing ribbons in red,
white and green, the colors of the Hungarian flag, covered the base of
a memorial to the 1848 revolution in the town park here on a recent
day. Deep in the heart of Romania, just one lonely garland bears the
country's own blue, yellow and red banner. New Year's is celebrated
twice here, first at the stroke of midnight and then an hour later,
when it is midnight in Budapest. When Kosovo declared its independence
from Serbia in February, hundreds of the town's Hungarians took to the
main square to demonstrate in favor of Kosovo, and by extension their
own aspirations for autonomy.

A Hungarian minority group is pressing for greater autonomy in a
region where its members outnumber Romanians. A new and more radical
organization, the Hungarian Civic Party, has risen to challenge the
establishment Hungarian party, which has been a member of each
coalition government since 1996. Those who argue that independence for
Kosovo has set a bad precedent tend to talk about frozen conflicts
outside the European Union — Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in Georgia,
and Transnistria in Moldova. But even in the European Union, borders
are often arbitrary. Many ethnic minorities, like the Basques and the
Roma, remain stateless while others, like the Hungarians in Romania,
as well as in Slovakia and Serbia, are still separated from their
brethren.

The Hungarian minority here, known as Szeklers, certainly believe
their time for independence has arrived and that their proposed
semi-autonomous state, Szeklerland, is an impending reality. "Kosovo
is an example, and a very clear one, that if the community wants to
live under self-government, we have to declare very loudly our will,"
said Csaba Ferencz, vice president of the Szekler National Council, a
local Hungarian group founded in 2003 with autonomy as its stated
goal. Szeklers are a distinct ethnic group from the Magyars, Hungary's
dominant population.

Their chances of success appear slim, but they are pressing ahead to
the chagrin of Romanians here, who say that as a local minority they
have fewer rights than Hungarians do as a nationwide minority. The
Hungarian region, comprising part of Mures County and all of Harghita
and Covasna, where Sfantu Gheorghe is the capital, was once a border
area of the Hungarian kingdom defended by the Szeklers. After World
War I, the Szeklers found themselves smack in the middle of Romania, a
few hours drive north through the Carpathian Mountains from Bucharest.

The conclusion of the war is best remembered for the harsh terms
imposed on Germany. But the peace agreement signed by Hungary in 1920,
the Treaty of Trianon, was arguably even tougher. Hungary lost roughly
two-thirds of its territory and population, including one-third of its
Hungarian speakers, in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
a loss that to this day is known as the Trianon trauma. (Hungary
regained most of its lost territories temporarily during World War
II.) Nowhere is the Hungarian minority larger or more vocal in its
demands for greater independence than in Romania. Hungarians make up
1.5 million of Romania's 22 million people, about half of them
Szeklers. Little wonder that Romania, a member of the European Union
and the host of the just-completed NATO summit meeting, joined
Slovakia, Serbia and Russia in refusing to recognize Kosovo.

Unlike the Kosovars, the Szeklers are asking for autonomy within
Romania rather than complete independence, leaving foreign policy and
national defense in the hands of the government in Bucharest.
Szeklerland would be nearly 4,000 square miles, with just over 800,000
people, three-quarters of them Hungarian. The headquarters of the
Szekler National Council sits in a large tan stucco house, a short
walk from the center of town. Out front hang both the European Union
flag and that of the Szeklers, a blue field with a horizontal gold
stripe across the middle and a gold sun and silver star on either
side. The house was previously the home of a lawyer dedicated to the
cause of Hungarian self-rule.

The council shares its headquarters with the newly minted Hungarian
Civic Party, which was approved in March to take part in elections, as
an alternative to the mainstream Democratic Union of Hungarians in
Romania. The Democratic Union stands accused, by Romanians in
particular, of old-fashioned ethnic machine politics. But their Civic
Party opponents accuse them of selling out.
"Since 1996 they are in the government and we think once they were,
they represented the interests of the Romanian majority and not the
Hungarian minority," said Zoltan Gazda, president of the Sfantu
Gheorghe branch of the new party.

"We have always respected the Romanian laws in our fight for autonomy,
but if this does not have a good ending it may raise up other kinds of
tensions," Mr. Gazda said. "We have signals that the discontent can
increase with conflicts."  Municipal elections on June 1 will be a
test of strength between the two Hungarian parties before
parliamentary elections later in the year. They are likely to work out
an arrangement to ensure that they do not split the vote in the
national race.  Under Communism, the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu tried
to dilute the Hungarian populations by moving Romanians into areas
where they were concentrated, particularly along the border with
Hungary.

Romanians here say the government in Bucharest has subordinated their
interests in exchange for Hungarian parliamentary votes. For example,
said Rodica Parvan, a Romanian member of the town council, the
national government does nothing while subsidies to churches and
schools, which are largely segregated, are distributed unequally by
the Hungarian-dominated local government.
However, most of the complaints by the Romanian residents are over
symbolic snubs, such as the council meetings held only in Hungarian
and Hungarian-language carols played at Christmastime. On March 15,
the Hungarian national holiday marking the beginning of the 1848
revolution against Hapsburg rule, Ms. Parvan was dismayed to see the
Romanian flag in front of the county government seat hanging at
half-mast.

"They told me the wind blew it down," she said.


 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/world/europe/07hungarians.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
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