Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Annex
Most Frequent Stereotypes Concerning Slovak-Hungarian Relations... lished traditional geographic names, provided that they exist, of course; that is also the case of textbooks for ethnic Slovaks in Hungary. In this atmosphere of ignorance, it is easy to create an impression that it is ethnic Hungarians who ‘again’ demand some new ‘privileges’. In fact, it is exactly the other way round, as the education minister introduced a change contrary to an established practice through a bureaucratic decision while ethnic Hungarian pedagogues and parents are merely trying to defend or preserve the existing status quo. B. The current dispute conspicuously resembles a similar dispute from the period of 1994—1998. Back then, the Ministry of Education led by an SNS appointee also ‘fabricated’ an artificial problem by forbidding issuance of bilingual report cards, pleading compliance with State Language Act. The issue of bilingual report cards as well as the issue of geographic names is completely marginal in the context of minority education or education in general. The executive power’s intentional aggravation of this artificial problem can only serve two purposes: first, it diverts political opponents’ attention from actual problems that plague not only schools for ethnic Hungarians but education system in general; second, it absorbs the public that subsequently pays less attention to other, much more important problems. C. A logical question then arises: why do ethnic Hungarians, their political representatives as well as professional and non-governmental organizations care so much about such ‘marginal’ issues? Firstly, it must be said that they merely defend the rights guaranteed to them by the Slovak Constitution and Slovakia’s international commitments. Secondly, politicians must also take into account their voters who expect them to take an emphatic and unambiguous position and stand up for their rights, which is nothing unnatural; on the contrary, protecting their voters’ interests is the principal purpose and task of all political parties. Last but not least, Hungarian names of many towns, villages, rivers and mountains in Slovakia, the Carpathian Basin, in Europe and in the world are traditional names that fonn an integral part of codified Hungarian lexis. The reason why Slovaks call Austria’s capital Wien Viedeň or the famous town in the Adriatic lagoon Venezia Benátky is the same reason why Hungarians call Bratislava Pozsony and Nové Zámky Érsekújvár. After all, official documents of the Slovak Government also use Slovak language to refer to geographic names on Hungary’s territory. When reading the cabinet’s document on providing financial aid to ethnic Slovaks in Hungary, an uninformed observer would never learn that the official name of the village of Mlynky is Pilisszentkereszt. D. Throughout the entire dispute, the incumbent administration in general and the SNS in particular incorrectly and demagogically used the argu-283
