On the occasion of the Day of the Romanian Army, the Romanian nationalist association “Calea Neamului” (translated as the “Path of the Nation”, referring to the Romanian nation), already famous for its drastic, xenophobic manifestations, together with “Frăția Ortodoxă” (translated as the “Orthodox Brotherhood”), a Romanian nationalist group, organized another anti-Hungarian march.

The provocative event had been initiated by Mihai Tîrnoveanu, the leader of Calea Neamului, notorious for his anti-Hungarian attitude, who promoted the event on his social media page, urging his followers to participate in the commemoration.

The event was attended by many participants from Moldavian counties (situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania) and from Bucharest. The participants displayed banners with anti-Hungarian content, one of them said “Hungarians, go back to Mongolia, where you came from”.  At the same time, the messages referred to the Romanian invasion in 1919, as well, “Hungary is not on the map of Europe” and “The barbarian Hungarians came to our lands in 1290 with the aim of robbery. Subsequently, the Mongol-Hungarians brought their families, as well.”

The nationalist followers of Tîrnoveanu marched to the cemetery, where a table had been laid for them and where Romanian military songs and the National Anthem of Romania were blaring from the loudspeakers. They held an Orthodox ceremony and read out loud the names of the Romanian heroes whose remains, according to them, were buried in the military cemetery in the Úz Valley. The leader of “Calea Neamului” strongly emphasized in his speech that “Romania belongs to the Romanians and it must remain the homeland of Romanians”.

Hunor Kelemen, the President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/
RMDSZ) urged the authorities and the state institutions to take adequate actions. According to Kelemen the failure to hold authorities to account can be based on two grounds: either the state institutions are weak or they are complicit in this story. He also emphasized that it is unacceptable that while the Hungarian community is being “sent back to Asia”, key leaders in the Romanian political sphere fail to condemn these actions.

Erika Benkő, director of the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance, commented on the incident by pointing out that it is a particularly worrying situation for the Hungarian community in Transylvania, where an extremist group sent the message that the thousand-year history of Hungarians in Europe is worth nothing, Hungarians do not belong here, they have no place here and their historical homeland has no right to exist. For the Hungarians in Transylvania the insecurity is a terrible feeling to experience, which is generated by constant manifestations of hatred. Therefore, it is important that we never pass by these situations without speaking out, and we must always take very firm action against similar events. To that effect, the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance took the necessary legal steps in this case as well.

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