Az Amerikai Magyar Koalíció (Hungarian American Coalition) nyilatkozata a romániai magyar kisebbség jogsérelmeiről Ion Iliescu elnök 2003. novemberi washingtoni látogatása alkalmából, valamint az Amerikai Magyar Szövetség washingtoni tagozatának (elnöke: Koszorús Frank) ehhez kapcsolódó levele a Washington Timesnak. Részlet a Magyar Lobbi 2003. november 7-i akció körleveléből.

Continuing Dissatisfaction of Hungarian Minority in Romania

Church Property Restitution Lags · Public Hungarian University Restoration Still Blocked · Agreement on Arad “Statue of Liberty” Scrapped at Last Minute

During their upcoming visit to Washington DC, Romanian President Ion Iliescu and accompanying officials will claim major achievements of democratic reform in Romania. However, facts and figures cast serious doubt on these claims. In reality, the Iliescu/Nastase government’s policies of broken promises and anti-minority actions have caused growing dissatisfaction among the 1.5 million-strong historic Hungarian community in Romania.

I. Restitution of confiscated church property

During 2003 the church property restitution process has been disappointingly slow, inefficient and unjust. Of the more than 2,000 church properties documented and claimed by Hungarian churches, to date decisions have been handed down in only seventy-one cases — and most of these exist merely on paper.

The ongoing saga of the Kolozsvár (Cluj) Reformed Kollégium: as a result of wide cooperation among the Hungarian American community and US officials, the long overdue return of one building of the historic Kolozsvár Reformed Kollégium was accomplished in January 2003. However, as students and faculty moved in, they were told a restaurant, library and dental clinic would remain on the premises for five more years. As the Cluj Reformed Church District awaited restitution of the larger original Hungarian school building next door — still occupied by the Romanian Sincai Liceul — local authorities indicated the original property registration of the five-building church complex would be contested in court.

II. Romania continues to deny restoration of public Hungarian university

The restoration of an autonomous, publicly funded Hungarian university in Cluj (forcibly merged in 1959 into Babeș-Bolyai University) has long been a major aspiration of the Hungarian community. Examples abound in Europe of minority-language universities maintained by majority governments for the purpose of assuring the survival of a minority’s language and culture. In spite of repeated pledges of the Iliescu-Nastase government to support this effort, to date there has been no progress on this issue of key importance to the Hungarian community.

III. Government does abrupt about-face on agreement to restore historic monument in Arad

Local officials in Arad approved plans to restore the “Liberty Statue,” originally erected in 1890, to its original location — a monument to the 13 Hungarian generals executed in Arad by Habsburg rulers on October 6, 1849, still commemorated as a day of mourning by the whole Hungarian nation. Despite earlier pledges to support this restoration, the Nastase government unexpectedly overruled the plans, ordered preparations stopped, and instead proposed a “park of reconciliation” be created in the city.

It is difficult to reconcile the claims of President Iliescu and Prime Minister Nastase of having created a model minority policy in Romania, when evidence clearly indicates that democratic policies often remain only on paper.

Statement of the Hungarian American Coalition, October 22, 2003

Letter to the Editor, The Washington Times

“President Ion Iliescu extols the progress he claims Romania has made since the collapse of communism [Romanian optimism, Embassy Row, October 30]. Considering the extent of the deprivation, oppression and misery caused by Ceaușescu’s brutal dictatorship, Romania can only improve, no matter how half-hearted the reforms or the lack of government transparency.

Although there has been some progress on the road to democratization, democracy is hardly ‘consolidated,’ as Iliescu asserts. Corruption is endemic, military reform is wanting, freedom of the press is not fully guaranteed, the judiciary is not completely independent, and Holocaust denial and revisionism can be found at the highest levels of government in today’s Romania. More than a decade since Ceaușescu’s fall, Romania fails to grant its more than 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians rights guaranteed them under the constitution and refuses to return their communal religious and educational properties confiscated by communists.

NATO overlooks the lack of Western-style civil society because of Romania’s strategic location and the exigencies of the conflict in Iraq. It can be hoped that NATO will insist that Romania implement much-needed reforms and adopt those shared Western values that defined the alliance.”

Frank Koszorús, Jr., President
American Hungarian Federation of Metropolitan Washington, DC

Forrás: A Magyar Lobbi Akció Körlevele, 2003. november 7.