Székely Nép, 1999 (31-32. évfolyam, 43-44. szám)

1999-03-01 / 43. szám

The Problem of Autonomy

by György Beke J

This last decade of the century and of the second millennium seems to atone for the historical omissions and sins of the twentieth century. Since in Europe the peace treaties around Paris caused the deepest wounds in the life of nations and countries, the healing process can take place only if the international community once again re examines the faithful principle by which the cartographers so tragically redrew the frontiers of the loosing countries. Clear-headed historians have discovered that the tragedies of our century can be traced back in most instances to the peace accords of Versailles and Trianoa Without the humiliation of Germany, Hitler would never have received societal backing; and without Hitler's war, Stalin could never have extended his empire upon such East-European countries, like Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which had never belonged to the sphere of influence of Russia.

This danger was clearly seen by die then prime minister of Hungary, Count István Bethlea who in a lecture given in London, England, in December of 1933 expressed the view that the Transylvanian problem can be solved only through a regional autonomy, in which Hungarians. Romanians and Saxons enjoy equal rights in a common federatioa Only this could guarantee the peace of the various nationalities. Without this peaceful solution, he explained: "...a dark and tempestuous time is coming, when upon the small nations of Middle-Europe either the Slavic giant or the German Drang nuch Osten or both together will trample."

Strangely enough, the principle of self-determination, as the fundamental doctrine for the reconstruction of Middle- Europe, was declared by then President Wilson in his address to Congress on January 8, 1918. Let me recount the three important points of this memorable address:

"9. Readjustment of the Italian frontiers along clearly recognizable lines of nationality;

10. Opportunity of autonomous development for the peoples of Austria- Hungary;

12. The Tutkish portions of the Ottoman Empire to be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities under Turkish rule to be given free opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanells to be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships of all nations under international guarantees."

Wilson's fourteen points made a decisive impact upon the warring factions,

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and hastened without a doubt the collapse of the Central Powers. The East European nations saw in these principles the guarantee of their free national life, development and identity.

Was the Wilsonian principle ever put into practice? The Western powers applied a particular version of the principle of self-determination when they united the Czechs and the Slovaks into one country, and the Southern -Slavs, the Serbian, Croatians and Slovenians, the so called "brother nations," into another. But this solution, besides making a large number of Hungarian and German populations a dispossessed minority, not only contradicted the principle of self-determination but also proved it simply unworkable. In the newly constituted Czechoslovakia the sharp contradiction came to the surface, since the Czechs, considering themselves the only victors, behaved like conquerors, making the Slovaks feel once again as secondary citizens. The South-Slav "brotherhood" was even less peaceful and down right riotous in the newly formed country of Yugoslavia. Between the two World Wars the quarrels among the Serbs and the Croatians intensified continuously. One dramatic episode of this situation was the murder of the Serbian King, Peter, together with the French Secretary of State in Marseilles, in the years 1934. This atrocity could not be set aside with the simple explanation that it was committed by the Croatian extreme right, called the ustashi, since the regicide was merely a symptom of the internal national strained relations of Yugoslavia. The Serbs and Croats were exchanging bullets not only in the French port city but also in their Parliament of Belgrade.

It is clear that at the peace treaties, following the First World War, the ethnic frontiers did not materialize, and only the interests of the victors and their allies were taken into consideration. Even President Wilson realizing before the signing of the peace treaties that the noble principles of self-determination became distorted by the power grabbing West-European allies, turned away from the peace conference and returned home offended. The United States did not sign the peace treaty of Trianon but in spite of this fact, took effect immediately, and determined the fate of the Hungarian nation and the entire Carpathian basin in the twentieth century.

The idea of self-determination became distorted in the Russian empire

also, even though Lenin and his comrades appealed to this principle when they brought about the Soviet Republics. Not only in the case of entirely different people from the Russians, such as the Turks, the Kyrgyz, the Armenians, the Kurds, but also in the case of sister nations, such as the Ukrainians, White Russians, the "independence" was only seemingly secured. In reality, however, the Regional Autonomies were Potemkin walls, behind which the forceful russification was stepped up. The oppression of the Non-Russian nationalities became clear in the heroic, self-sacrificing struggle that was demonstrated by the Chechen war of liberation

The colonial status of Central Europe under the Soviet Union tragically blocked the process of self determination which took place in the Western countries during the second half of our century and which gave real autonomy to such nations and ethnic groups as the Catalans in Spain the South Tirolians in Italy and others.

Not even the most drastic oppression of the Soviets could extinguish in the colonized people of their empire the idea of self-determination. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was fought for this principle, so was the Polish freedom movement, and the German unification struggle. When the Soviet economic and military power collapsed in 1989 and the following years, we could say, paraphrasing Marx, that a "ghost" hovered over Eastern Europe and even over the Russian empire, the ghost of self determination. This is not an abstract principle but a basic desire, coming from the very heart and soul of the life of the nations.

It is to be considered that these movements of independence took place in the life of the oppressed nations and ethnic groups at a time when the great powers possessed the most awesome weapons of destruction, and when the unification processes and the efforts to bring closer the countries of the world offered a new re examination of the minority problem. Do the minorities and small nations want to oppose the great powers and the globalization process? Without question, the determination and strong resolve of the small nations and ethnic minorities of Europe has never been stronger, and they are willing to take up the fight if necessary against insurmountable odds if they are forced to do that. They have proven that even in the shadow of the atomic bombs the national will is more powerful than the might of the oppressor or the comfortable indifference of the great powers and their allies.

On the other hand, it is not true that the