"Hungarians should die for Ukraine, just don't speak Hungarian," said Katalin Szili to Mandiner.
"The Transcarpathian Hungarians were simply taken hostage in Ukraine," says Katalin Szili. The officials of Munkács and its district have indulged themselves in outrageous actions: they recently took down the Hungarian flags from Hungarian-maintained or Hungarian-supported public institutions in several locations, referring to a bogus law. After that, the prime minister's representative Katalin Szili, who was visiting Transcarpathia, was not allowed into Munkac Castle either.
How did you get banned from Münkacsi Castle?
In connection with the Day of Hungarian Culture on January 22, the Subcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Institute (KMMI) and the Subcarpathian Association of Hungarian Intellectuals (MÉKK) prepared a series of festive events, which included a meeting of intellectuals, discussions and other meetings - for example, the Subcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association ( KMKSZ) and II. Led by the Ferenc Rákóczi College, but I also visited the students in the college's shelter, it was heartbreaking to see them as they had to take exams in several subjects in the basements - and there were also various wreaths laid. Of this, the event at the Széchenyi memorial ball in Beregsász was canceled due to an air raid warning, because it is forbidden to hold an outdoor event at this time, then we would have gone to Munkács to lay a wreath at the Petőfi statue in the castle. However, we received the news the day before that
the management of the castle simply did not allow us to lay wreaths there
– we only received the ban, the notification, without any justification. This is simply outrageous, especially in the case of a European Union country. But by this time we had already heard the news about the events taking place in the Münkacs district - remember, in Dercen and Fornos, the Hungarian flags and signs in Hungarian were removed . By the way, we are talking about institutions that are maintained by the Hungarian state. It is sad that while there is unfortunately a war in the eastern parts, the Ukrainian leadership, and within that the Münkac district, still has the energy to take action against its national minorities, primarily the Hungarians. This is simply unsustainable.
Until now, the leadership in Kyiv has not dared either, even though they are not famous for their friendship with Hungarians either.
Since September 1, 2017, Ukraine has been an associated country of the European Union, based on an agreement. This regulates, among other things, the behavior shown towards national minorities, roughly the same as in the case of the member states, primarily the prohibition of discrimination Then it is extremely strange that immediately after September 1, already on September 5, the education law of which Article 7. in its article, education in the Hungarian language is severely restricted; this was followed by the language law with its further restrictions on rights, and then the regulations on indigenous minorities, in which the Hungarians were not recognized as an indigenous community. Then came the formation of the regions, and now in December came the law on national minorities, which, among other things, states that minorities must assimilate. This,
compared to the fact that the 1992 law even talks about cultural autonomy, it is a particularly big step back, a narrowing of rights!
Assimilate? Shouldn't you integrate?
Integration, even if there is no collective national minority law, definitely leads to assimilation. In any case, regarding the latter law, I am afraid that it will be a big problem if the European Union does not pay enough attention to the content, but instead accepts the fact of regulations concerning national minorities and communities.
I wouldn't be surprised, because one would have to know the European historical facts to have clarity.
An example: neither the Peace of Trianon nor the 1956 revolution and war of independence are included in French primary and secondary school history books - what can we expect from politicians who grew up with such incomplete knowledge? However, if this law enters into force in this way, then the strange situation will arise that the Transcarpathian community will be in an even worse situation within the framework of the European Union integration process - including not only us, but the Romanians, the unrecognized Ruthenians and everyone else - , as it was in the Soviet Union. I have therefore considered that I will write to the EU bodies regarding the exceptionally narrowing of national minority rights. This is not only our constitutional duty, if any member of our community is affected by injustice, it is our duty of conscience to act on their behalf. Action must now be forced from Brussels, Europe's attention must be drawn to the fact that under the guise of war and integration, it cannot be exempted from committing rights-depriving and rights-restricting acts. Not even if everyone is now much more sensitive to any criticism of the Ukrainian leadership.
The full interview HERE !
Photo: MTI/János Vajda
