The Eighth Tribe, 1981 (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1981-10-01 / 10. szám
EDITOR’S NOTE : In the July issue of the Quarterly we have focused attention on the threats we have received from the Rumanian government. In answer to these threats, Mr. István Zblcsak wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Rumania. Copies of the letter were sent to all member nations of the U.N. Here is the English translation of that letter. His Excellency, ILIE VERDET Prime Minister of the Rumanian Socialist Republic Bucharest, Rumania 280/1981 Mr. Prime Minister: About two years ago, Mr. József Salgo' an engineer, arrived in Brazil from the Rumanian Socialist Republic to visit his relatives. One of those relatives, acting has his intermediary, contacted me by telephone to arrange a meeting. When we met, he informed me that on the occasion of receiving his passport from the police of Marosvásárhely, a committee of four led by a colonel of the political police (Securitate) of Bucharest requested him to transmit to me threats concerning my life in the event that I continued to work for the international movements which demand the protection of the national and human rights of the Hungarians in Rumania. On August 17, 1980, the Rumanian Socialist Republic’s radio station on shortwave transmitted in Rumanian and French that I was a “western fascist bandit and gang leader,” and accused the Transylvanian World Federation of being “a gang of fascists living in the West composed of ex-fascist officers and anti-communists who wish to wedge apart the nations of the Socialist Bloc, poison the brotherly relations between the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Rumanian Socialist Republic, and instigate the Transylvania Hungarians against their motherland, Rumania.” In March 1981, my brother, Sándor Zolcs'ak (74 years old), formerly a sergeant of the Brazilian police, arrived in Brazil to visit his numerous relatives. To obtain his passport he was asked to appear at the police of Szatmar (Satu-Mare), where a group of four led by a colonel from Bucharest interrogated him and asked him to convey to me the following: 1. I should visit Rumania to convince myself of the fearless and happy life of the Hungarians there; 2. As a last warning—I must stop working in the interests of national and human rights of the Transylvanian Hungarians or be killed by the agents of the Rumanian Socialist Republic no matter where in the world I might be. The repeated threatening messages relayed by reliable and personal methods, and the attack transmitted by the official radio station of the Rumanian State, leave no doubt that the threat against my life is serious. Considering the above, and my legal and natural right to self-defense, I am compelled to answer in writing to the threats and accusations of the official representatives of the Rumanian Socialist Republic, and direct attention to the following: 1. My brother would have to personally deliver my reply to your political police. It would be better and more exacting for me to reply directly to his commissioners; 2. My written reply, in the event of my murder, could be utilized to propogate the case of Transylvania by documenting my reasoning for the defense of human and national rights; 3. I am not Rumanian by race or by citizenship. Consequently, my assassination could cause serious international repercussions for the Rumanian Socialist Republic; 4. My assassination might open a new and bloody period in the relations between the Rumanian Socialist Republic and the minorities living in Rumania, for which the Rumanian Socialist Republic would bear sole responsibility; 5. I do not comprehend the terrorist threats against my life because I work in the framework of the Transylvanian World F ederation in the interests of peaceful coexistance, human rights, and equality between peoples. These fundamental principles are laid down in the Charter of the United Nations, are recognized by the nations of the Soviet Bloc, and, moreover, are put down in the covenant known as the Helsinki Accords. The “Testimony” prepared by the Transylvanian World Federation for the Madrid Conference, a copy of which was forwarded to the Government of the Rumanian Socialist Republic, has been accepted for examination by the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations. This fact as a matter of course negates all of the grounds for my being branded by the various exponents and radio stations of the Rumanian Socialist Republic as a facist, western bandit and disruptive element of the unity of the Socialist Bloc. I do not deny that I played an instrumental role in the organization of the Transylvanian World Federation. However, in reference to the above-mentioned international accords accepted and signed by the Rumanian Socialist Republic, I wish to draw your Government’s attention to the fact that the nationality politics of the Rumanian THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY ▼
