Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No.3
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Subject: Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No.3
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Mediafax <[email protected]>
Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No.3
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No. 3 / April 15, 2002
DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -
SUMMARY
1. SCHOOL SEPARATION ON ETHNIC CRITERIA GENERATES DISPUTES...
2. ...WHILE PREMIER URGES RATIONAL SOLUTION
3. WORLD ROMA DAY CELEBRATED IN ROMANIA
4. OVER 130,000 APPLICATIONS FOR MAGYAR ID CARDS
5. UDMR WELCOMES HUNGARY'S ELECTION RESULT
6. ROMANIAN MUSEUM INAUGURATES EXHIBITION DEVOTED TO ETHNIC MINORITIES
OPINION
7. ROMANIA SALUTES ELECTIONS IN HUNGARY
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SCHOOL SEPARATION ON ETHNIC CRITERIA GENERATES DISPUTES...
TIRGU-MURES - Some two hundred pupils at the Romanian section of the
"Bolyai Farkas" high school in Tirgu Mures (central Romania), which is
currently teaching classes both in Magyar and in Romanian, last week
staged protests against local authorities decision to separate their
school on the basis of ethnic criteria. They hoisted Romania's flag
from the windows of their classrooms, while Magyar pupils reacted in
similar fashion, raising Hungary's flag. Under a protocol signed last
year by the ruling party, The Social Democrat Party (PSD) and
Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR), "Bolyai Farkas"
will become a Magyar language college as of this autumn, reason for
which all the classes taught in Romanian will have to be moved to
another college. Transfer procedures will be enforced during the
summer holiday, so that school year activities won't be disturbed.
UDMR President Marko Bela said that Romanian Education Ministry agreed
with the procedure whereby "Bolyai Farkas" high school will become an
all Magyar-taught education institution. While the high school
director claims the crisis situation could be managed by dialogue with
the disgruntled pupils, the Ministry of Education and Research is the
only institution entitled to decide how the education activity unfolds
in the future. (DIVERS)
..WHILE PREMIER URGES RATIONAL SOLUTION
BUCHAREST - Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said last week that
the situation of "Bolyai Farkas" high school in Tirgu Mures must be
solved in a "rational manner", so as the minorities' rights are
respected but they must not lead to a "mosaic society". "We must
figure out how we can ensure the national minorities' protection
rights regarding the learning and securing of their own language, the
right of their own religion, but we can not build a mosaic society, in
which on one part of the territory to be Romanians, on other
Hungarians, on other Germans and on other Ukrainians," stated Nastase.
He added that Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), the ruling
party PSD and the government will know how to find proper solutions
for the "needs of the students in every locality". "The solutions
should be carefully correlated with the signals that come from the
ones who are living together and who want to continue living together,
even they may speak different languages besides the official one,
which is only one, the Romanian language," said Nastase, adding that
it is necessary to apply only the principles compatible with the
Romanian and European values. (DIVERS)
WORLD ROMA DAY CELEBRATED IN ROMANIA
BUCHAREST - Romania's Gypsy population on April 8 organized a number
of festive events to celebrate World Roma Day. In Bucharest, the
celebrations opened with a mass celebrated at the Zlatari church to
commemorate Roma people dead during the WWII. Representatives of
several Gypsy organizations threw flowers into the River Dimbovita to
remember their wanderings 700 years ago. The proclamation of Romania's
Gypsies, drafted by the Aven Amentza Roma Center, was read on this
special occasion. There were also proposals to draft and adopt an
additional protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms that should deal with the rights
of minorities. In Sibiu (central Romania), hundreds of Roma people
from all around the country organized a march protesting "against the
racist attitudes that boosted lately in Romania". On April 8 1971, the
Roma World Federation was established in London to remember the
Romanies' past and to fight against prejudice. (DIVERS)
OVER 130,000 APPLICATIONS FOR MAGYAR ID CARDS
CLUJ-NAPOCA - The number of application requests submitted so far by
ethnic Magyars from Romania to get Hungarian ID cards reached 130,000,
according to executive chairman of Hungarian Democratic Federation of
Romania (UDMR), Takacs Csaba. As regards Cluj county (central Romania)
a number of 11,091 requests have been applied for, of which 10,284
have already been approved, the rest of them being incomplete or
filled in inappropriately. Takacs Csaba pointed out that the request
applications decreased in March. Hungarian ID cards are provided to
ethnic Hungarians abroad under the provisions of the Status Law.
Card-holders will get some travel benefits in Hungary, free access to
the Hungarian healthcare system and to some cultural services, and
education rights. Employment rights are restricted to a renewable
three months per year. (DIVERS)
UDMR WELCOMES HUNGARY'S ELECTION RESULT
BUCHAREST - The fact that the Hungarian voters unequivocally rejected
extremism is an extremely important message from the Hungarian voters
to the Magyars of Transylvania but also for the whole of the
Carpathian Basin, the chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of
Romania (UDMR), Marko Bela said. He added that the organization
representing the Hungarians of Romania knows the leadership of the
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the party who won the first round of
election in Hungary, and they have maintained good political and
personal relationships with it in the past years. Marko Bela expressed
his conviction that the future government in Hungary will be able to
cooperate well with UDMR in the questions affecting ethnic Hungarians
in Romania. "In the past years, I think we have managed to assert a
principle which is very important for all of us that, to us, the issue
of Hungarians beyond the borders, the national question, is not a
party-political question. Continuity is possible after this, too, and
it is not a watershed", Marko Bela said. (DIVERS)
ROMANIAN MUSEUM INAUGURATES EXHIBITION DEVOTED TO ETHNIC MINORITIES
BUCHAREST - The Museum of the Romanian Peasant (MTR) last week opened
two exhibitions presenting cultural and traditional products of
country's ethnic minorities. "It is for the first time when an
institution inaugurates an exhibition presenting main ethnic
minorities from Romania", Dinu C. Giurascu, MTR manager said. "This is
just the beginning as we have more plans for the near future". The
exhibitions are called "Laolalta" ("Together"), "Rromii" ("Roma
people") and "Atit cit stim" (As much as we know"). (DIVERS)
OPINION
ROMANIA SALUTES ELECTIONS IN HUNGARY
by DIVERS staff
BUCHAREST - After 1990, Romania and Hungary have been going back and
forth debating various issues that involved the two's interests in
regional and European policies, historical assets and the ethnic
minorities.
Following a few years when the bilateral relations did neither move
forward nor took steps backwards, the contacts started to improve
slightly, especially since the Hungarian Democrat Union in Romania
(UDMR) managed to become part of 1996-2000 Administration in
Bucharest, the bilateral treaty was signed five years ago and the
community finally obtained approval for the first private Hungarian
university financed by the authorities in Budapest. Moreover, UDMR is
now relying on the privileged-type partnership with the Social
Democrat Party (PSD), the majority party in the Romanian Government, a
partnership that was sealed upon a protocol for mutual parliamentarian
support.
But now that Budapest is possibly facing a Socialist Executive, what
does the future hold? Most likely nothing that would make eyebrows
raise. Last year, the Socialist Party backed all the way the Law on
Hungarians living in neighboring countries, according to which many
individuals of Hungarian descent, residing outside Hungary, would have
received a series of economic benefits. The political analysts claim
unanimously that the Socialists will, in fact, continue to support the
same line of action that benefits the Hungarian minorities.
An early trend could be tracked down in the Socialist candidate Peter
Medgyessy's statement who shortly after the first round of elections
stated his intention to become the Premier "of all 15 million
Hungarians" and get together with all Hungarian leaders outside the
country's borders.
On the other hand, it might as well be expected that the relations
between authorities in Bucharest and Budapest continue in an amiable
manner. That is given the past cooperation between the Hungarian
Socialist Party and the Social Democrat Party in Romania, also the two
signers of the bilateral treaty. Another argument would be the support
received by PSD so far in its attempts to become a full member of the
Socialist International.
While visiting Bucharest last year, Peter Medgyessy, a Romanian
language connoisseur, pleaded for a permanent dialogue between the two
countries in all cultural, economic and political matters. The one
alternative the future is most likely to hold. (Translation by
www.romania.com)
DIVERS is a weekly news bulletin edited by the Mediafax News Ngency
with financial support from Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center
(EDRC) in Cluj.
For now, the full version of the bulletin is only available in
Romanian and can be found at www.divers.ro
e-mail: [email protected]
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