In this week’s newsletter we also report that after the video of the incident in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely had been posted on Youtube, several media outlets presented the events suggesting that these are everyday occurrences in Szeklerland, and thus inciting hatred toward the Hungarian community. Journalist Radu BANCIU in particular, in his TV show entitled Lumea lui Banciu (Banciu’s world) aired on B1 TV, spoke in openly nationalistic and chauvinistic terms about the entire Hungarian minority in Romania. The comments made by BANCIU are hurtful and discriminatory on many levels, not to mention that they also incite to national hatred and violence against the Hungarian community.
Xenophobic slurs towards Hungarians at a national football game
The Romanian First Division 2017-2018 football season has barely begun, but the newly promoted team from Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, Sepsi OSK, already has to endure xenophobic slurs from nationalist supporters of other teams.
The attacks against the president of UDMR/RMDSZ continue
In our last newsletter we reported that the president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), Hunor KELEMEN, came under attack for declaring in an interview that the Hungarian community of Romania does not wish to celebrate the upcoming centennial of Romania’s 1918 Great Union. Some politicians, television commentators and other public figures went as far as demanding that the UDMR/RMDSZ president be stripped of his Romanian citizenship.
UDMR/RMDSZ president Hunor KELEMEN under attack
Hunor KELEMEN, the president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) has been harassed for days in the Romanian media for declarations he made regarding the upcoming centennial of the 1918 Great Union, and is now facing threats from civil organisations, as well as individuals, who demand that his Romanian citizenship be taken away. Nationalistic rage is also rampant on social media, where the president of UDMR/RMDSZ is being labelled a traitor and a nobody, simply for expressing an opinion and reaffirming the position of the party, which was expressed numerous times beforehand.
The visit of the president ignites anti-Hungarian sentiment
Following the visit of president Klaus IOHANNIS to Szeklerland on July 18th, the Romanian media was quick to laud his patriotic behaviour and his “formidable” tactics in avoiding the “traps” laid out for him by the representatives of the local Hungarian community. They especially appreciated the fact that the president refused to personally accept a Szekler flag which was offered to him, and called upon one of the bodyguards to take it instead, while he himself presented his hosts with a Romanian flag. Furthermore, even though the president listened to some of the concerns expressed by the local leaders, including the ethnic discrimination still faced by the Hungarian community, IOHANNIS was eager to dismiss these, and asked his audience to focus instead on the issues that concern the rest of the country in equal measure, a feat also very much appreciated by the Romanian media.