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.
Lately, similar comments have been made by the rector of the Babeș-Bolyai University, Ioan Aurel POP, who, referring to KELEMEN, declared on national television: ”If you do not recognise the National Day, you cannot live in this country.” He also argued that belonging to a country and respect for the symbols of that country cannot be separated.
It is especially troubling that such comments come from a historian and a university professor at one of the most prominent universities in Romania, who should know that the right to freedom of speech is an inalienable and absolute right, one that is also enshrined in the Constitution. Demanding that someone be expelled from the country for expressing a view is thus unconstitutional, undemocratic, and coming from an academician, a professor nonetheless, it is also profoundly unethical, as one expects the rector of a prestigious university to stand up for the values of tolerance, solidarity and freedom of speech.