News from Rumania

4/7/2010 -- AHF article on Autonomy for Romania's Hungarian Communities published in Foreign Policy Review...The article entitled, "Autonomy:  The Path to Democracy and Stability in Romania," makes a compelling case for the recognition of autonomy as a means of strengthening democracy and stability in Romania. [read more]

1/12/10 -- The American Hungarian Federation urged Vice President Biden to discuss policies with his "Romanian interlocutors that they should adopt to strengthen Romania's democratic institutions and respect the rights of its Hungarian minority"  during his trip to Romania. Frank Koszorus, Jr., co-president and chairman of the Federation's International Relations Committee reports, "We understand that issues relating to the Hungarian minority were raised." [Read more] The letter to the Vice President included a statement on AHF's concerns for the Hungarian minority in Transylvania.

PBS airs documentary on Cyanide Mine in Transylvania... Rumania plans the destruction of churches, cemeteries, homes and displacing an entire village to make room for one-mile-wide, open-pit cyanide mine. On Tuesday, the 21st of August at 9 PM EST, PBS Television will show a documentary film on a planned open pit cyanide gold mine at Verespatak in Transylvania, now part of Romania. "Gold Futures" is a David-and-Goliath story set in a scenic Romanian village in the heart of Transylvania. [read more]

6/14/2007 - "There are no Nationalities in Romania?" The American Hungarian Federation Co-Hosts Lecture by Bishop Arpad Szabo from Kolozsvar... The Federation and the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America (HRFA) sponsored a presentation by Dr. Arpad Szabo entitled "In Europe, but . . ." at the HRFA Kossuth House. Bishop Szabo is the head of the Unitarian Church in Romania and is in the United States to attend the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The Federation’s program was the latest in its series of lectures relating to Central and Eastern Europe. [read more]

6/4/2007 - "Trianon: Tragedy, Dissolution, and Remedy." Frank Koszorus, Jr. and the AHF International Relations Committee release essay on treaty's 87th anniversary. "...Ostensibly in the name of national self-determination, the Treaty dismembered the thousand-year-old Kingdom of Hungary, a self-contained, geographically and economically coherent and durable formation in the Carpathian Basin and boasting the longest lasting historical borders in Europe. It was imposed on Hungary without any negotiation by vengeful leaders... it also transferred over three million indigenous ethnic Hungarians and over 70% of the country's territory to foreign rule." [read more]

1/25/2007 - "Romania respects the rights of its Hungarian minority and fulfills the political criterion for membership of the EU.” The American Hungarian Federation disagrees with the Directorate General of the European Commission and continues efforts to educate the pubilc, including the European Union, on Romanian minority rights record. In a follow up to an earlier communication, AHF issues second letter to Commissioner of Enlargement Ollie Rehn and refers to the recent ouster of two Hungarian professors at the Babes-Bolyai University. Commissioner de Lobkowicz referred to the “tri-lingual (Romanian / German / Hungarian) Babes-Bolyai state university in Cluj" as an example of the so-called respect for the rights of the Hungarian minority. The AHF letter says, "Considering the dismissal of Professors Peter Hantz and Lehel Kovacs from Babes-Bolyai in November for promoting bilingualism, Mr. de Lobkowicz’s statement is incredible." "Failure by the EU to insist that its new members comply with the Copenhagen criteria, on the other hand, would undermine the values that have enabled the EU to succeed in promoting stability, security and the economic welfare of Europe." [download] the letter.

12/18/2006 - The American Hungarian Federation Condemns Latest Minority Rights Violations By Romania: Sanctions Against Hungarian Professors At Babes-Bolyai University For Promoting Bilingualism. "Although Romania joined NATO and will be accepted into the EU, the irrefutable record demonstrates that its laws and practices fail to conform to European and Western standards relating to human and minority rights. A few examples of Romania’s less than exemplary record will suffice..." [read more][tovább magyarul]

• AHF Statement (English) [read more]
• AMSz Nyilatkozat (Hungarian/Magyarul) [tovább]

6/7/2006 - "Trianon Binds No One Except Hungarians," AHF Issues Statement on the 86th Anniversary of the Trianon Tragedy. Hungarian American communities join in protest. AHF's Assoc. President Frank Koszorus, Jr., writes, "Two of the new states cobbled together by the victorious Entente “peacemakers” at Versailles ceased to exist years ago, and even part (Moldova) of the third successor state succeeded to gain its independence it never had before. Ironically, the winds of change that swept through the region and rearranged the old Cordon Stalinaire after 1989, left untouched the very people who have suffered the most under a punitive treaty – the thousand plus year old indigenous Hungarian communities living under the rule of states that are mostly different from those stipulated at Trianon 86 years ago...Even as Montenegro declares its independence and Kosovo’s status remains on the front burner, Budapest appears content to sit on the sidelines and conspicuously refrains from espousing the democratically expressed aspirations of autochthonous Hungarian minorities for autonomy in Vojvodina, Transylvania, Slovakia and Karpatalja (Ruthenia)." [download entire statement]

4/18/2006 - The American Hungarian Federation responds to European Commissioner Rehn's view that conditions relating to the Hungarian historical community living in Romania are satisfactory. The letter, drafted by AHF 1st Vice President Frank Koszorus, Jr., cites specific examples of Rumania's "less than exemplary record."

"...the evidence is to the contrary. The irrefutable record demonstrates that Romania must take concrete steps before its laws and practices conform to European and Western standards relating to human and minority rights. A few examples of Romania’s less than exemplary record will suffice. More than a decade after the collapse of Communism, Romania has yet to fulfill its promises to its more than 1.5 million strong ethnic Hungarians. While Bucharest lavishly funds the Orthodox Church that is engaged in a church building spree, it has returned to the rightful Hungarian owners only a tiny fraction of the more than 2000 religious and communal properties illegally seized from them during the Communist era.states, "More than a decade after the collapse of Communism, Romania has yet to fulfill its promises to its more than 1.5 million strong ethnic Hungarians." [download full letter]

12/2/2005 - AHF urges US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to call attention to Hungarian Minority on her visit to Rumania...

On behalf of the American Hungarian Federation, Frank Koszorus, Jr., submitted a letter to Secretary Condoleezza Rice, on the eve of her trip to Europe that includes Romania, calling attention to the fact that Romania must continue its reforms relative to its Hungarian minority. The Federation’s letter urges Secretary Rice to raise several issues with her interlocutors, including:

“Romania’s failure to restore church properties confiscated by the previous communist regime; Romania’s failure to adopt the law on national minorities living in Romania; Romania’s refusal to support the Hungarian national minority communities’ (cultural and territorial) autonomy proposals that would ensure local self-governance and the protection of their unique culture and ethnic identity; and Romania’s refusal to establish a Hungarian-language state university.” The letter concludes by noting that Secretary Rice’s “trip presents a wonderful opportunity to promote continued progress by Romania in developing laws and practices toward its minorities that are compatible with Western values and NATO’s security goals and that thereby will advance vital U.S. interests in a stable and democratic Central and Eastern Europe.”
[download the full letter]

You will need the free Adobe Reader to open the file. Click the image to download.

10/24/2005 - Rumanian Senate rejects minority status law. AHF Issues Statement. Rumanian Senator Paunescu's earlier statement telling Hungarians to "return to the depths of Asia" on September 29th (see the report from MTI) during senate debate on the law has even led the Rumanian government to express concern over nationalist movement in the Senate.

The measure was defeated 63-43. The ultra-nationalist Greater Rumania Party senator Gheorghe (George) Funar and conservative senators Ion Iliescu and Adrian Paunescu led the opposition to the measure despite appeals to Western European democratic values and previous commitments by senators György (George) Frunda and Béla Markó.

AHF issued a statement (in Hungarian) which was read on Marosvasarhelyi Radio in Transylvania. It opens with "Az Amerikai Magyar Szövetséget nem lepte meg, hogy a román szenátus elutasította a kisebbségi törvénytervezetet és a kulturális autonómiára vonatkozó fejezetet. A román politikai elit bebizonyította, hogy még mindig nem fogadja el azt a vitathatatlan tényt, miszerint a multietnikus Közép-és Kelet-Európában a kisebbségi jogok szavatolása, a jogbiztonság, a tolerancia és a személyi, kulturális és területi autonómiához való jog alapveto feltétele a demokráciának és a regionális stabilitásnak." [download]

Read the full article in Hungarian published on www.erdely.ma: "A Szenátus elutasította a kisebbségi törvény tervezetét."

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6/13/2005 - Two Transylvanian boys attacked for "speaking Hungarian" in Marosvasarhely (now called Tirgu-Mures after Rumanian annexation). Tirgu-Mures, home to Rumanian radical politician George Funar, has long been known for violent Rumanian nationalism and anti-Hungarianism.

The incident occurred on June 2nd, Hungarian Television reported. While on boy escaped heavily beaten and bruised, the other boy was hospitalized for both a broken nose and broken cheek bone. The Rumanian attackers cursed the boys calling them "Bozgors," or "homeless." This is the way Rumanian radicals refer to Hungarians as a sarcastic way to remind them they lost Transylvania, their "home." At least they acknowledge that fact. Similar incidents occurred recently in the Transylvanian town of Sepsiszentgyörgy.

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6/1/2005 - AHF Applauds US Congress and urges the community to thank the co-sponsors of House Resolution 191...The United States House of Representatives recently passed H. Res. 191 on May 23, urging the "Government of Romania to recognize its responsibilities to provide equitable, prompt and fair restitution to all religious communities for property confiscated by the former Communist government. . . ." -- a measure which goes beyond mere symbolism and expresses the unequivocal opinion of the United States House of Representatives. [read more] [< Go to all AHF news]

5/24/2005 - SUCCESS! AHF ACTION ALERT UPDATE on our grassroots action on House Resolution 191 urging the "prompt and fair restitution of church properties by Rumania." AHF wishes to thank ALL those who participated in this successful campaign! [read more] [< Go to all AHF news]

4/8/2005 - HOT NEWS: House Resolution 191 moves forward urging the "prompt and fair restitution of church properties by Rumania." AHF strongly supports this measure and will continue its efforts aimed at swift adoption.

“We applaud Representatives Tom Lantos (D-CA) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO) for their leadership on an issue that goes to the very heart of democracy, rule of law and minority rights in Rumania – the return of religious properties illegally confiscated by the former Communist government,” noted Frank Koszorus, Jr. “This has been a long process, beginning with statements in 2002 by Representatives Lantos, Tancredo and Robert Matsui urging the prompt and fair restitution of properties by Romania and Slovakia and continuing in 2004 when Representative Tancredo introduced a similar resolution that was cosponsored by 15 Members,” he added.

[HOW CAN YOU HELP? READ MORE!]

[download the resolution] here or on the right under "Related Downloads." The resolution is also available online at www.congress.gov. Select "by bill" and enter "H.Res. 191"

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4/1/2005 -AHF joins statement entitled,"PROVOCATIVE ANTI-MINORITY STATEMENT UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY IN ROMANIA" -

Full text:
We the undersigned believe that an indispensable component of stability and security in Central and Eastern Europe is a demonstrable and sustained commitment to democracy, including the respect for the rule of law and the rights of national and religious minorities. Tragically during most of the last century these ideals were frequently sacrificed. As much as we welcome newly-elected President Traian Basescu’s pledge to implement reforms in Romania, we are appalled by former President Ion Iliescu’s shocking statement on March 25 blaming Hungarians of Tirgu Mures (Marosvasarhely) for the violence in March 1990 when ethnic Romanians brought in by trucks viciously attacked ethnic Hungarians who were seeking rights denied them by the dictator Ceausescu. As noted by Andrei Codrescu in his acclaimed book, “The Hole in the Flag,” the “trucks and the weapons resembled very much the trucks and weapons with which Iliescu’s ‘workers’ had gone to work on the [pro-democracy] demonstrators of Bucharest. It was no coincidence.” We are confident that all democratic-minded Romanians will reject former President Iliescu’s blatant attempt to rewrite history and we urge them to speak out against such revisionism that only serves to foment ethnic hatred and intolerance and thereby undermines genuine democracy in Romania.

• Iliescu Statement_ENGLISH
• Iliescu Statement_HUNGARIAN
• Iliescu Statement_RUMANIAN

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3/11/2005 - AHF Meets Rumanian President Basescu and urges him to Support Restoration of Church Properties to Hungarian Minority - Rumanian President Traian Basescu kicked off a two-day visit to Washington Tuesday (8 March), with the aim of strengthening the US-Rumanian strategic partnership at the political, military and economic levels. [read more]

George W. Bush praises Basescu as a "special friend" and "special leader." "Rumania is a 'special ally' because Rumania shares the same values we do: human rights, human dignity, rule of law, transparency in government, anti-corruption." AHF knows the situation is far from Bush's rosy picture, but hopes Mr. Bush's encouraging words bring change to Rumania. Click the Image to see a [LIVE INTERVIEW] on Fox News.

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3/10/2005 - A rare event: Hungarian Church wins battle with Rumania to get back confiscated building: The Rumanian Government's Committee on Restitution, in a rare move, sided with the Hungarian Reformed Church and returned its Theological College Building in the Transylvanian city of Szekelyudvarhely. The seminary was founded in 1670 by Count Bethlen. Current tenants in the building, rebuilt in 1886, including Rumanian government offices, can stay and pay nominal rent.
[Read More in Hungarian]

3/7/2005 - Hungarians beaten by Rumanian Hockey Fans - Several ethnic Hungarians were beaten by Romanians after a hockey game in Romania's capital, Bucharest, reported the online magazine www.erdely.ma. The Hungarians who arrived by bus from Csik were unharmed, but those who came in small groups were attacked by fans of the opposing hockey team, the Romanian army’s Steaua.

Andras Lenard, a Hungarian victim, described the attacks: After the game, we left and wanted to call a cab, because we parked our car far from the stadium so it would not be vandalized. We couldn’t find a taxi, so we started to walk. Meanwhile, we noticed that 4-5 Romanians passed us, and I suspect that they signaled to others because suddenly we were attacked from multiple directions. There were about a hundred of them. I was hit from the back with a hard object, I fell to the ground, and they started kicking me. I tried to cover my face, I raised my arm. I was laying on the ground for about 20-30 minutes, the others were beat up too, a boy from Vasarhely was in the worst condition. The attackers did not come empty handed, they came with various objects.

Another witness, Imre Csato said that the attackers used chains and sticks, and used ethnic slurs against the Hungarians. They called them “bozgor,” which means “one without a homeland” an ethnic slur used by the Romanian majority to express their domination over the ethnic Hungarian minority. The police only intervened after the Hungarians were beaten so badly that they had to be hospitalized. The injuries of the young man from Vasarhely included a broken arm and a fractured skull. "This is another violent example of anti-Hungarian sentiments that still exist in Romania. We have to take it seriously." - stated Sandor A. Nagy, president of CHACR.
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Related Links

• AHF and the Tragedy at Trianon
• AHF expresses concerns for Hungarian Minority in Rumania to Vice President Joe Biden
• AHF article on Autonomy for Romania's Hungarian Communities published in Foreign Policy Review
• AHF Concerns related to the Hungarian Minority in Transylvania
• Controversy at the Babes-Bolyai State University
• Church and Synagogue Property Confiscation
• "There are no Nationalities in Romania" The American Hungarian Federation Co-Hosts Lecture by Bishop Arpad Szabo from Kolozsvar
• "Trianon: Tragedy, Dissolution, and Remedy." Frank Koszorus, Jr. and the AHF International Relations Committee release essay on treaty's 87th anniversary.
• AHF on the 88th Anniversary of the Tragedy at Trianon
• AHF on the 89th Anniversary of the Tragedy at Trianon
• Révai Miklós emléktábla Nagycsanádon
• News from Vojvodina [I], [II], [III]
• News from Slovakia
• Slovakia and the Benes Decrees
• Hungarian Flags Flying Again in Slovakia
• Rumania's Basescu in the US
• AHF on Dual Citizenship for Hungarians
• The Csango Hungarians of Moldavia
• The Tragedy of the Treaty of Trianon

You will need the free Adobe Reader to open the following files. Click the image to download.

Articles and Essays by AHF Members

• "NATO Enlargement" by Frank Koszorus Jr. March 29, 2004
  Remarks on the Occasion of the Enlargement of NATO, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. [download]
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• "Nato Enlargement And Minority Rights: Prerequisites To Security" by Frank Koszorus, Jr., April 2003
  A memorandum that was submitted to Robert A. Bradtke, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Heather A. Conley, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs during a roundtable discussion on "NATO Enlargement and the Current State of the Trans-Atlantic Alliance." This submission follows several other intiatives, including submissions to Lord Roberston, Secretary General of NATO. [download]
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• “Nato Enlargement: Promoting Western Values, Strengthening The Alliance” by Frank Koszorus, Jr., April 29, 2003
  A Statement Before The United States Senate Committee On Foreign Relations.
  [download]
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• "U.S. Senate Unanimously Ratifies Nato Treaty; Senators Raise Rights Of Minorities: Federation Supports Efforts Aimed At Encouraging Romania And Slovakia To Respect Rights Of Hungarian Minorities And Restore Communal Properties" - Press Release by Zoltan Bagdy, May 9, 2003 [download]

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Congressional Resolutions and Records

• H.RES 191 - A RESOLUTION urging the "prompt and fair restitution of church properties by Romania and Slovakia - TOM LANTOS / TOM TANCREDO (April 6th 2005) in the House of Representatives [download]

• A RESOLUTION REGARDING THE ISSUE OF TRANSYLVANIAN HUNGARIANS -- HON. DONALD E. `BUZ' LUKENS (Extension of Remarks - February 26, 1990) in the House of Representatives [download]

• VIOLENCE IN TRANSYLVANIA -- HON. DON RITTER (Extension of Remarks - March 22, 1990) in the House of Representatives [download]
  
• Transylvanian Monitor #14: Property Restitution.

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Other Resources

• An Essay on the foundations of Rumanian Identity, Nationalism and Ethnic Cleansing - CONCEPTUAL CONFUSIONS CONCERNING THE ROMANIAN IDENTITY: NEAM AND POPOR AS EXPRESSIONS OF ETHNO-NATIONALISM (PART 3) - "...the motivation and the goal was common: racially determined mass murder." (Appeared in RFE/RFL Newsline, 6/5/2005 By Victor Neumann, professor of history at the West University of Timisoara, Romania.) [download]

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