Maracz: Hungarian Revival

The Kolozsvar declaration of 25th October 1992

"One of the socio-political problems in Rumanian political life that most urgently needs to be resolved is the national issue. The bitter experiences and tragic events that have convinced us, the Rumanian Hungarians and our legitimate representational body, the RMDSZ, that until now neither political will nor political practice have been able to provide us with an acceptable solution. We accept our national identity, but will not retreat or shrink away. We regard this native homeland and soil as ours, but at the same time we do not want to be swallowed up by the Rumanian nation. Politically, the Rumanian Hungarians are a constitutional factor and so they are, as such, equal partners of the Rumanian nation. We are just as responsible for the future of that nation as any other citizens and when we see that in Hungarian circles the struggle is being given up and defeatism is starting to set in causing many to decide to leave the country it is our duty to intervene. We feel duty-bound to find a solution that will offer a way out of this crisis for us and for our country. The autonomy of the ethnic and religious communities is one cohesive whole in Transylvania's history. One might refer to the Saxon people's right to self-government that has existed for almost 800 years. Self-government was also pronounced in the Gyulafehervar proclamation of 1918.

We believe that the solution lies in establishing internal self-determination. The principle of self-determination is one of forward-looking universal implications, in fact, many ethnic or other sorts of self-governing communities that have developed in the past or are developing now, already demonstrate the success of this principle in operating European democracies.

The Rumanian Hungarians will be integrated community by community into the society of our country within the wider context of our state's European integration process.

We are aware of the fact that the national issue will gain new dimensions that will go beyond the framework of human rights and which are already important in the matter of European security and stability.

We are convinced that the self-government of the various communities will contribute to strengthening the constitutional state

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and the civil social structures, while at the same time being an important aspect of the democratization process.

Finding a solution to the national question is of national importance. In carrying out this awesome task in which constitutional and legal frameworks have to be created we rely on the support from the democratic forces within this country."

The doctrine of internal self-determination, as formulated above by the RMDSZ, has been further elaborated by the Hungarian senator Jozsef Csapo. Csapo published a discussion paper on 31st December 1992 entitled The internal self-determination of the Hungarian national community in Rumania. In this paper, he gives a point by point description of what the Hungarians' internal self-determination scheme will have to look like. Since then, the whole internal self-determination debate has had its ups and downs. The Neptun affair, described in the last chapter, created two camps within the RMDSZ, namely that of the autonomists and that of the anti-autonomists.

So far the reaction of the Rumanian state to the Hungarian community's bid for autonomy has been one of fear and panic. In November 1994, the Rumanian intelligence service, SRI, declared in its annual report presented in parliament that it heavily condemned the "anti-Rumanian, irredentist and revisionist" activities of Hungarian individuals and organizations within and outside of the country. The three people specifically named in this connection were Dr. Barki, Dr. Csapo and Adam Katona. In December 1994, the Austrian security service made it known that the SRI was planning to murder Mrs Barki and it was also informed that there was a blacklist naming Tokes and three other civilians from Hungary. All the people named on this list have managed to remain level-headed about the death threats, but remain perpetually on their guard.193 The laconical remark made by Katona on the matter was: "To me it is like receiving an award from my country."

The key figure for the Hungarians of Transylvania has been bishop Laszlo Tokes. The man who has withstood so many attacks,

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accusations, press campaigns, threats and attempts on his life has never given up the fight. When the tyrant Ceausescu fell, Tokes became confident that with a firm belief in God and a clear conscience it would be possible to combat all evil forces. As far as Tokes is concerned, making Rumania fully democratic and securing equality for the Hungarian community are simply two different sides to the same coin. It is as though the harder they push him the more the bishop starts to gain the same allure as black South African spiritual leaders or the Tibetan Dalai Lama who also became moral figure-heads in the battle for the emancipation of their people. This status was confirmed when recently Tokes was invited by Jimmy Carter, the former US president, to travel to America to discuss the Hungarian-Rumanian question.

The Hungarian-Rumanian round table conference took place on 14th and 15th February 1995 in Atlanta. On this occasion, it was once again the PER that mediated. The PER had apparently learned from the failure of Neptun that no constructive negotiating could ever be established between the Rumanian authorities and the Hungarian community without the legitimate representation of the RMDSZ. The RMDSZ delegation was composed of 'radicals' and 'moderates', including bishop Tokes, honorary chairman of the RMDSZ. In a written statement made before the proceedings in Atlanta began, Tokes declared that he was prepared to negotiate with the Rumanian government even though he was aware that the conference would be full of 'pitfalls' that could be disadvantageous for the RMDSZ. Yet Tokes found the risk worth taking since Jimmy Carter's reputation would serve as a guarantee for open negotiation. The bishop, furthermore, pointed out that the round table conference in Atlanta provided the first real opportunity for bringing the question of the Hungarians in Transylvania to the attention of the international public opinion.194 In a personal letter written before he went to America, Tokes called upon the former president "to do his utmost to ensure fair solutions." At the press conference held after the round table meetings, Jimmy Carter commented that "the conference may be regarded as a success, because both parties have agreed to continue the difficult discussions

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embarked on in Atlanta."195 The Atlanta negotiations were rounded off with a joint declaration in which both sides promised to continue the dialogue, notably in the following areas: (a) to loosen up political tension and improve inter-ethnic relations, (b) on concepts of autonomy, (c) regarding the education law and teaching in the mother tongue, (d) on the issue of accepting the native language in local government, the law courts, public life and in economic and social areas, (e) in bi-lingual place and road naming, (f) regarding the law on minorities, (g) the law on religious denominations and the restitution of church property and possessions, (h) pertaining to the law on local spending, (i) the P_l Cseresznyes case and (j) the problem of economic discrimination.196 Although the Rumanian parliament and senate had distanced themselves from the conference proceedings it was still, for bishop Tokes and the other delegates, the first time that their problems were being recognized internationally.

The Vojvodina Hungarians' struggle for autonomy was recorded in a memorandum entitled On the Self-government of Hungarians in the Republic of Serbia that was adopted at the general meeting of the Democratic Community of Hungarians in Vojvodina (the VMDK) on 25th April 1992. The memorandum makes mention of Serbia, because the Hungarians feel threatened by Serb aggression and at this stage they do not want to provoke ethnic cleansing in Vojvodina. In the words of the community's president, Andr_s Agoston: "We are surrounded by sharks." Without armed protection, life for the Hungarians of Vojvodinia remains precarious. It was, therefore, very brave of the VMDK leaders to dare to accept the proposal relating to autonomy. The proposal contains detailed plans on establishing an autonomous Hungarian region.

The VMDK bases its concepts on the proposal of Lord Carrington who chaired the Yugoslavia conferences in The Hague and Brussels relating to the special status of 'minorities' that form a majority on their own territory. The VMDK refers to paragraph c of part II of the congress document adopted in The Hague to claim a special status for communities where Hungarians are in

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the majority. The preamble to the memorandum proposes that, in its capacity as the legitimate representational organization for the Hungarian community in Vojvodina, the VMDK should request that the Serbian parliament adjust its laws in such a way that the Hungarian majority is given special status with its own parliament, police force and schools and the freedom to use all its own national symbols. The autonomous Hungarian region is the ethnic conglomeration along the banks of the river Tisza, including the communities of Kanizsa, Zenta, Ada, Csuka and Obecse, and in the Bacska district, including Kishegyes, Topolya and Szabadka and some other neighbouring communities. Here, the Hungarians constitute a compact bloc and they are in the absolute majority. The Vojvodina Hungarians are demanding nothing more than what the Serbian government is demanding for the Serb communities in Croatia and Bosnia. According to the VMDK, Serbia should not employ double standards. It may not back out of recognizing the constitutional rights of national communities and of guaranteeing different forms of self-government in accordance with the intentions of the peace proposal. Since 1992, there has been no progress in the matter of autonomy for Hungarians in Vojvodina. Now that the war in former Yugoslavia has come to an end, new possibilities are opening up for the Hungarian community. As international pressure mounts, the Serbs are making more and more mistakes even though they still enjoy the protection of powerful states. Now that war criminals are being brought before the international war tribunal in The Hague, even the most extreme of Serb tyrants, like Seselj, are proving willing to negotiate with the VMDK about Hungarian autonomy.

The last of the autonomy declarations to be made was that of the Hungarian community in Slovakia. In Slovakia there are four Hungarian political parties: the liberal parties Coexistence (Hun. Egyutteles) and the Hungarian Civic Party (Hun. Magyar Polgari Part, MPP), the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement (Hun. Magyar Keresztenydemokrata Mozgalom, MKDM) and the conservative rightist Hungarian People's Party (Hun. Magyar Neppart, MNP) which all made an electoral alliance pact before the elections. With the return of nationalistic totalitarian

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politicians like Meciar not only common Hungarian interests need to be defended, but also the process of democratization. As a result, co-operation between Hungarian parties has been intensified. On 8th January 1994, 3,000 elected Hungarian representatives, local council members, mayors and members of parliament assembled in Komarom (Komarno) to adopt a declaration relating to the future of the Hungarians in southern Slovakia. Policies were formulated in the field of politics, self-government, public administration and the constitution. The signatories of the 'Komarom Declaration' emphasized that they want to regulate the legal position of the Hungarian Slovaks within the formal framework, while at the same time respecting Slovak territorial integrity.

The political section of the declaration states that the Hungarians and Slovaks have a long history of mutual tolerance and that they have developed common cultural values. The Hungarians of Slovakia want a stable and integrated Europe and they are oriented to the West. They want to avoid political conflict at all costs, but they do point out that on the Slovak side the political will to improve the position of the Hungarians in Slovakia is lacking. This is why it is required to look for new solutions and to, for instance, aim at establishing a partnership.

The declaration states that if local councils have extensive powers that is what forms the foundation of a democratic constitutional state. It, furthermore, states that the powers of the local councils in Slovakia are to be suspended by the constitution and central government. The signatories of the Komarom declaration want the local councils to be given more extensive powers and rights and more financial elbow-room. They call upon the Slovak government to sign the European charter on local self-government which introduces the principle of subsidiarity.

The declaration of Komarom also criticizes the plan, as proposed by the Slovak government for the territorial restructuring of Slovakia. The Hungarians find this proposal unacceptable, because the districts would be restructured in a north-south direction which

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would mean that the Hungarians who are concentrated in a 'west-east' line would find themselves

in the minority in all the new districts. In such a situation, the Hungarians would certainly no longer be able to organize their own affairs. In the memorandum, the alternatives put forward for the territorial restructuring of Slovakia do more justice to the number of Hungarians and their geographical distribution.

The constitutional position of the Hungarians can only be properly laid down when local self-government and territorial restructuring have been decided upon in a democratic way. The Slovak Hungarians want a collective status to be established in the constitution and they no longer want to be defined as a 'minority' but rather as a national community. They want to be represented proportionally in governmental bodies and they want the use of the Hungarian language to become legal. Where Hungarians are in the majority, their language must stand on an equal footing with Slovak and in regions where Hungarians are a numerical minority Hungarian should be recognized as an official second language. The declaration contains the four following political demands:

- the Hungarians are a political entity and as such demand to have local self-government.

- in areas where they are in the majority the Hungarians demand that article 11 of Resolution 1201 of the Council of Europe be strictly enforced which means that in all local government areas (in the civil service, police forces, the law courts) Hungarians will have to be represented proportionately.

- a principle of reciprocity should operate within the state. Slovaks who are numerically in the minority in a region where Hungarians are in the majority must have the same rights as Hungarians who are numerically in the minority, while Slovaks are in the majority.

- as a partner nation the Hungarians wish to live on an equal footing with the Slovaks.

In the declaration of Komarom the term autonomy has been deliberately avoided since that might lead the Slovaks to interpret this as a first step on the road to separatism. In that respect, in

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wanting to avoid provocation of the Slovaks at all costs the Hungarians have been very compromising. The signatories do, however, stipulate that if the Slovak government does not take the Komarom declaration seriously and if it shows no interest in realizing the proposals they must expect that tension will inevitably increase.

Until now the efforts made on the part of the Hungarian national community to achieve autonomy have not been taken very seriously and international politics have tried to hold back this process. One of the instruments used to realize this policy was the stability pact that was signed on 20th March 1995 in Paris under the chairmanship of the French ex-prime minister Balladur. The original idea had been to resolve the problems existing between Hungary and her neighbouring countries of Slovakia and Rumania by getting all the parties to sign bilateral treaties. A friendship treaty between Hungary and Slovakia was signed, even though both parties later went on to interpret the text differently. No treaty was signed with Rumania, because the Rumanians were not in agreement with the Council of Europe's 1201 Resolution upon which the rights of the Transylvanian Hungarians were to be based.

Resolution 1201 of the Council of Europe, which is an elaboration of the European convention on human rights for national minorities is, however, little more than a recognition of the cultural identity of national 'minorities' individually guaranteeing people the right to use their own native language, receive education in their own mother tongue etc. Resolution 1201 also recognizes people's right to local self-government in regions where the 'minority' in question is in the majority. If a state ignores such minimum requirements, one cannot really interpret this as anything other than its refusing to recognize a national community's right to existence on its own territory.

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Maracz: Hungarian Revival