The city's general assembly refused to hand over three properties previously owned by the church and which were transferred to the state without compensation to the Hódmezővásárhely-Old Church Reformed Egyházközség with its decisions on Thursday.
In the vote following a discussion that escalated into a personal one
The left-liberal mayor Péter Márki-Zay and seven of his fellow opposition representatives supported the decision to refuse the transfer of the properties, but three representatives of the Fidesz-KDNP voted no.
In the debate, sub-registrar György Petrovics said that the area of the former church garden and the denominational cemetery had served the local people as public space since the 1960s, and the Magtár building was "not used by the parish for religious and sacred purposes at the time prescribed by law. Therefore, the transfer of real estate cannot be supported."
Péter Márki-Zay reminded: there is a dispute between the municipality and the Reformed parish regarding the use and ownership of several properties. The mayor said that the head of the parish "is trying to put the municipality in a worse situation for political purposes and to hinder the development of the main square".
The parish is the 1988 square meter former garden around the old church, the former denominational cemetery, the community was founded in the 18th century. asked the municipality to hand over the 229-square-meter part that guards the graves of three leading priests in the 17th century - Mihály Füredi, Benjámin Szőnyi, and Sándor Füredi - as well as the 93-square-meter Granary built in 1741.
Together with the Magtár and the church garden, which previously bounded the area and was partially demolished, it forms an integral part of the old church monument complex and is under temporary protection.
In our previous article , we also reported that this is not the first conflict between the Reformed parish in Hódmezővásárhely and the left-liberal city administration.
Mayor Péter Márki-Zay launched a total war against the Reformed schools, Promenad24.hu reported at the end of August this year. It was written that the day before the school year began, the employees of the Hódmezővásárhely municipality rigged up the classrooms and changed the locks in the building used by the reformed elementary school in order to exclude the students and their teachers from them. According to Judit Gilicze, the headmistress of the school, which just started its 30th anniversary school year this year, it is the nightmare they are living in.
Péter Márki-Zay launched a total war against four hundred children, in which he used all means.
The director of the Szőnyi Benjámin Református elementary school Promenad24.hu earlier that according to the amended usage contract signed at the beginning of February, the ground floor premises, three smaller rooms, a dance hall and the corresponding changing rooms and sports hall were also used legally.
He stated that if the owner, the Hódmezővásárhely municipality, disputes this, then the legal dispute should have been settled through the courts, not in a way that rooms are rigged up, occupied, and locks changed a day before the start of the school year.
- In a state of law, this is not the solution to settling a controversial issue, the owner cannot arbitrarily take premises, the tenants also have rights - pointed out the director. Judit Gilicze explained: the halls and rooms seized by the municipality at the end of August served important educational purposes, as many group classes were held there, but there are also places where school supplies and other educational equipment are stored.
The reformers finally initiated property protection proceedings , which were carried out by the clerk of Mórahalm, who stated in a decision that the Hódmezővásárhely municipality had committed a trespass against the Szőnyi school by replacing the locks on the ground floor rooms of the building on August 30.
Finally, with the help of the authorities and in the presence of six police officers, the Szőnyi Benjámin Református elementary school got back the rooms that the Hódmezővásárhely municipality had illegally closed from them on August 30 . For more than a week previously, the city's management did not comply with the obligations imposed on it in the property protection decision.
MTI / Hungarian Nation
Cover photo: Péter Márki-Zay, the town's mayor, at the town hall in Hódmezővásárhely. Photo: MTI/Tibor Rosta
