30th of November, 2004

Newsweek
Fax: 1-212-445-4120
To: editors@newsweek.com

RE: William Underwood "Hungary: A Place to Call Home"
(Nov. 29th International Edition)

To The Editor,

Your fine report needs to be corrected on the following points:

The Hungarian minorities cannot be compared to the Russians who have been recently settled by the Soviets in the Baltic states. This is because the Hungarians are the original inhabitants of their 1000 years old towns and villages. They have not moved; they became foreigners because the borders been redrawn around them.

The Hungarian minorities cannot be compared to the East Germans either, because the Hungarians who wanted to leave have done so during the last 15 years. Therefore, this referendum will have no influence on emigration.

The EU does not object to dual citizenship. Present EU members, such as Croatia and Slovakia and future EU members, such as Romania and Serbia are all, already granting citizenship to their own national minorities outside their borders.

The reason the present government of Hungary opposes a "yes" vote is because ethnic Hungarians are against the former Communists, who are protecting their own power and their plundered prey.

It is unfair to view this referendum as a sign of nationalism. Just imagine if 72% of the United States was given to some other state and the remaining quarter accepted this dismemberment and only wanted to grant the disendowed a symbolic citizenship. Would you call that nationalism? No, the Albanians might be violent nationalists, but Hungarians are a non-violent people.
Sometimes one wonders, if it is necessary for national minorities to turn violent in order to gain their rights?

Béla G. Lipták, P.E.
Editor of the Environmental Engineers’ Handbook
84 Old N. Stamford Rd., Stamford, CT 06905
Tel: 203-357-7614, Fax: 203-325-3922
E-Mail: Liptakbela@AOL.COM

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