The Eighth Tribe, 1978 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-03-01 / 3. szám
Page 6 THE EIGHTH TRIBE March, 1978 areas should not benefit fully from the travel concessions. The visitor to Budapest hears time and again that these measures have not yet been carried out because the Romanians are dragging their feet. The treatment of the Hungarians in multinational Yugoslavia, and the full autonomy and freedom of movement they enjoy is repeatedly mentioned as an example the Romanian comrades should follow. The Romanians say that the “co-inhabiting nationalities,” and thus also the Hungarians, are represented according to their proportional strength at all levels of the “elected” state organs and the party bodies: that they have their own newspapers, publishing houses and theatres. This in turn is shrugged off by Hungarians as an “alibi”. According to Mr. Illyés, the Hungarians are deprived of university and vocation school education in their native tongue and 20 per cent of the school children do not even learn the alphabet in Hungarian. They are given history books which describe their ancestors as “inferior incursors.” The memorandum presented by Mr. Király to the Romanian leadership is regarded by the Hungarians as striking proof of the growing ferment in Transylvania. The situation is closely watched by the Soviets. The attitudes of the Hungarians, accounting officially for 8 per cent of the total population, has always been seen in the Kremlin as the potential Achilles Heel of resurgent Romanian nationalism. After all, President Ceausescu himself has built his policy of independence on the priority of the nation as such. Meanwhile, the case of Mr. Király, who is already understood to be subjected to disciplinary proceedings, indicates that the argument works both ways. It is stressed in Budapest that the articles of Mr. Illyés were published without any prior approval by the leadership. Yet the fact that the latest issue of “Magyar Hirek,” a glossy weekly with a circulation of 100,000 published for Hungarians abroad by the world Federation of Hungarians in Budapest, devoted an entire page to extracts from the sensational articles by the great poet can hardly be regarded as accidental. Reprinted from Financial Times (London) ☆ ☆ EX-OFFICIAL CHARGES ROMANIA IS SUPPRESSING ETHNIC UNREST By Michael Dobbs CARANSEBES, Romania—The Romanian government has taken emergency measures to suppress growing discontent among the two-million-strong Hungarian community in Romania, according to a former close aide of President Nikolai Ceausescu. The charges by Károly Király, a former high Romanian Communist Party official, reflect increased tensions in Romania as well as what appears to be an unprecedented challenge to Ceausescu’s authority. Király also said in an interview that 16 prominent Romanian Communist officials have associated themselves with an open letter in which Király denounced the Romanian government for suppression of minority rights. Among those backing the protest Király cited former prime minister Ion Gheoghe Maurer; the present deputy prime minister, János Fazekas, and several other members of the Romanian Central Committee and parliament. Király said that the Romanian government has responded by taking emergency measures to suppress growing discontent among Romania’s ethnic minority. He spoke of the massive deployment of troops in Transylvania, where most Hungarians live, and houseto-house searches, interrogations and other forms of harassment. Apart from Maurer, all other figures who reportedly associated their names with the protest are of Hungarian background. But such an endorsement of a protest movement here is without precedent. The question of ethnic rights has long been a source of covert dispute between the two Warsaw Pact neighbors. Publicly, however, all Soviet bloc countries have contended that such issues have been resolved. The sudden upsurge of protest among Romania’s minority and the public backing of it by the Hungarian Communist government has posed a serious domestic challenge to Ceausescu. Király spoke to three Western journalists in defiance of official warnings against contacts with the foreign press. The interview took place in Caransebes, a town of some 27,000 people where Király is in internal
