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The Szabadka Initiative: AHF Activities in Vojvodina / Vajdaság |
AHF was among fifteen organizations from Europe, North America, and Latin America that met January 5-6, 2005 in Szabadka/Subotica (Vajdaság/Vojvodina, Serbia-Montenegro) to join forces in persuading the Government of the Republic of Hungary to coordinate with them its efforts to assist ethnic Hungarians living as national minorities in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia-Montenegro, Ukraine, Croatia, and Slovenia. All participants signed a joint declaration in which they: 1. Express their disappointment over the failure and low turnout (37%) at the December 5 Hungarian national referendum on dual citizenship, but thanked those who voted in favor of granting citizenship to ethnic Hungarians residing beyond the country’s borders. [AHF notes that 51% of those voting, voted in favor of the referendum] 2. Chastise political forces in Hungary that led a negative campaign and used false predictions about the consequences of extended dual citizenship in order to urge a No vote, or not voting at all. They declared their joint belief that the Hungarian nation remains indivisible in its language, culture, and history, political party wars notwithstanding. 3. Expect the Hungarian National Assembly to honor the will of the majority in the referendum and pass legislation that enables Hungarians beyond Hungary’s borders to acquire citizenship without changing their country of residence. 4. Declare their fundamental political goal as securing conditions for minority Hungarians to remain and prosper in their ancient homelands. The preconditions to this they see in various legal and practical autonomies (local self-government) as well as in moral, political, and material support by the Government of Hungary. 5. Urge positive discrimination in assisting Hungarian minorities facing the gravest conditions, i.e. those without promising prospects to join the European Union, in Ukraine and Serbia-Montenegro. 6. Continue to consider the Hungarian Standing Conference (in which the Hungarian Government and Hungarian parliamentary parties also participate) to be the most important arena for coordinating their joint actions, and request its convening by mid-April. 7. Found a new Forum of External Hungarian Organizations to convene whenever the interests of minority Hungarians and the nation as a whole so warrant. Read the official documents (in Hungarian):
Mini Máért Szabadkán.... A szabadkai diákotthonban csütörtökön délután háromkor kezdodik a megbeszélés. A Felvidékrol négyen érkeznek Szabadkára: Bugár Béla, a Magyar Koalíció Pártjának elnöke, Duray Miklós alelnök, Bárdos Gyula frakcióvezeto, és Vörös Péter, az MKP irodavezetoje. A romániai RMDSZ képviseletében is többen érkeznek a mini Máértre. Markó Béla elnököt több alkalommal is hívtuk telefonon, de nem sikerült tole nyilatkozatot kérni. Kárpátaljáról Kovács Miklós, a Kárpátaljai Magyarok Kulturális Szövetségének elnöke érkezik a megbeszélésre, Gajdos Istvánt, az Ukrajnai Magyarok Demokratikus Szövetségének elnökét is várták, de mint nem hivatalosan megtudtuk, Gajdos úr nem kapott beutazási vízumot Szerbiába. Horvátországból Jakab Sándor, a HMDSZ ügyvezeto elnöke utazik Szabadkára. -- Nagy várakozással tekintek a szabadkai találkozó elé. Reménykedem, hogy ezzel a határon túli magyar szervezetek határozottabb együttmuködése kezdodik majd meg. A horvátországi magyarság nem mond le a kettos állampolgárság igénylésérol. A horvát állampolgársági törvényre hivatkozva készítettük el javaslatunkat, és ezt terjesztjük majd be Szabadkán. Nagyon fontosnak tartom, hogy a határon kívüli magyarság kialakítsa közös álláspontját, mégpedig úgy, ahogyan azt mi jónak tartjuk, nem pedig mások bábáskodása mellett -- mondta a HMDSZ elnöke. Szlovéniából Thomka György, a Muravidéki
Magyar Önkormányzati Nemzeti Közösség elnöke,
és Pozsonyec Mária parlamenti képviselo érkezik
a megbeszélésre. A tervek szerint a tanácskozás csütörtökön és pénteken folyik. A megbeszélés második napján zárónyilatkozat készül. [< back to all AHF news]
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AHF in the News: Press Coverage of the Vojvodina / Subotica Initiative [go] About Vojvodina: "Ethnic Cleansing" in action. How did this region that was part of Hungary for over 1000 years become part of Yugoslavia? Read "The Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia and Autonomous Region of Vojvodina, and the Need for a More Coherent U.S. Foreign Policy" by Bryan Dawson. Refer to the following demographic maps comparing Vojvodina in 1910 and 1991. Note that the decline shown does NOT take into consideration the significant escalation of atrocities against Hungarians over the last decade: Click images for larger version
In the last six months, non-Serbs, including members of Vojvodina’s
300,000-strong Hungarian minority, have been harassed and assaulted and
their cemeteries and churches have been desecrated in a wave of physical
violence, vandalism and anti-Semitism.
5/13/2004 - Vojvodina Leader
Accuses Belgade Elite of Oppression...The speaker of Vojvodina's parliament,
Nenad Canak, has accused political elites in Belgrade of harassing pro-European
and democratic parties in that province, Deutsche Welle's "Monitor" reported
on 12 May. Canak said the alleged oppression is the result of a slide
toward increasing nationalism in Belgrade. In early March, members of
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's coalition slammed an initiative
for greater autonomy for Vojvodina as a "direct attack on the integrity
of the Serbian state and the interests of the [ethnic Serbian] majority
population." The so-called Subotica Initiative as led by Canak, who heads
the League of Social Democrats in Vojvodina, and Jozef Kasza of the League
of Vojvodina Hungarians
AHF Related Links These are .PDF files.
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