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Promises and Practices 100 Years of Struggle for Szekler Autonomy in Romania

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Promises and Practices 100 Years of Struggle for Szekler Autonomy in Romania ooking back on the conclusion of World War I, against the backdrop of the centenary of the 14-point Declaration of President Woodrow Wilson, one cannot help but agree Lthat the general negligence of the victorious Entente-powers in honouring the concept of self-determination as a guiding principle for redrawing European and world maps, generated almost insurmountable differences among the nations and nationalities of the PROMISES old continent in general, and Central-Eastern Europe in particular. A salient example is the case of Romania and its approach to the AND Hungarian speaking community of Transyl- vania. In particular, those who live compactly PRACTICES in a traditional region called Szeklerland (Székelyföld). In the following brief study I intend to 100 YEARS demonstrate on the example of Szeklerland that for nearly 100 years now, Romania OF STRUGGLE has been intentionally failing to implement her obligations pertaining to minority protec- tion. As subjects of the nationalizing policies FOR SZEKLER of consecutive Romanian administrations,(1) Szeklers had to come to terms with being incorporated into a state that has been AUTONOMY treating members of the community as third grade citizens, and their aspirations for grea- ter self-rule as a potential threat to the exis- IN ROMANIA tence of the state. HISTORICAL CONTEXT If one juxtaposes the content with the implementation of salient treaties con- cluded by, or related to Romania throughout the course of the XIX, XX and XXI cen- tury, it becomes quite unambiguous that the country was never serious in accepting any kind of practical constraints on its authority ATTILA DABIS regarding the treatment of minorities.(2) This COMMISSIONER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS was true of the Treaty of Paris (1856), which granted autonomous status to Wallachia OF THE SZEKLER NATIONAL COUNCIL and Moldova within the Ottoman Empire; the Treaty of Berlin (1878) that provided international recognition for Romania; the Treaty of Versailles (1919) that significantly expanded the borders of the country; or the specific conventions and charters that deal exclusively with human- and minority rights (e.g.: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992), or the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1994). FIGURE 1. a salient factor in the future of the region, given CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE BEFORE AND that the leadership of the Soviet Union considered AFTER WORLD WAR I. that a certain degree of autonomy must be accorded to Szeklerland, in the framework of post-war peace building in the Eastern bloc.(4) Thus, the constitutionally entrenched Hungarian Autonomous Province (HAP) was created in 1952, providing some level of autonomy, mostly in cultural and linguistic issues, to a predominantly Szekler administrative unit. Being a huge thorn in the side of the nationalistic communist political elite, the borders of HAP were first redrawn in 1960 (by incorporating Romanian-speaking MAP COURTESY OF HAUS PUBLISHING communes, and taking away Hungarian-speaking ones, in pursuit of altering the ethnic/cultural Most importantly, article 11 of the Treaty proportion of the population), only to be eliminated between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers in 1968 through Law nr. 2 (a law still in force), and Romania, signed in Paris on 9 December establishing the currently existing administrative 1919, stipulated that “Romania agrees to accord division of Romania.(5) to the communities of the Saxons and Szeklers in Transylvania autonomy in regard to educational and religious matters”. The guarantor of this treaty was BASIC FEATURES OF THE DRAFT the League of Nations, as well as the Permanent STATUTE OF AUTONOMY OF Court of International Justice. In practice, this SZEKLERLAND meant that Romania agreed that any member of This takes us to contemporary times. the Council of the League of Nations shall have On the one hand, consecutive Romanian the right to bring to the attention of the Council administrations voiced plans of an administrative any infraction, or any danger of infraction of these reform which would merge the three counties with obligations, and that any difference of opinion substantial Szekler-Hungarian population (Harghita/ regarding these obligations shall be referred to Hargita-82.9%, Covasna/Kovászna-73.79% and the Permanent Court of International Justice, the Mures/Maros-38.09%) into a larger administrative decisions of which shall be final and undisputable. region (together with overwhelmingly Romanian The rapid collapse of the minority-protection system Alba, Sibiu, and Brasov counties), in which the of the League of Nations, however, rendered these proportion of Szekler-Hungarians would drop below provisions void and unenforceable. 30%. On the other hand, however, the autonomy The Hungarian Kingdom had lost over 70% statute draft, elaborated by the Szekler National of its territory, and more than 60% of its population, Council, enumerates those municipalities that should including around 3.7 million ethnic Hungarians (who become part of a unified Szekler administrative (6) mostly lived directly adjacent to the newly established unit, vested with autonomous competencies. borders), as a consequence of the peace Treaty of Based on this draft, an autonomous Szeklerland Trianon (1920). From the 325.411 km² large pre-war would have the following basic characteristics: territory of the country, the part that Romania had received (103 093 km²), was in itself bigger than EL ARTÍCULO 11 DEL TRATADO ENTRE Hungary today (93 030 km²). As of that point, it became a raison d’État for Hungary to win back LAS PRINCIPALES POTENCIAS ALIADAS the lost territories.(3) To this end, the country sided Y ASOCIADAS Y RUMANIA, FIRMADO with the Axis Powers who decided to redraw the EN PARÍS EL 9 DE DICIEMBRE DE borders so as to give back Hungary neighbouring 1919, ESTIPULABA QUE “RUMANIA SE territories where the majority was Hungarian- COMPROMETE A CONCEDER A LAS speaking, including northern-Transylvania, and COMUNIDADES DE LOS SAJONES Y LOS with it, also Szeklerland. The effects of these SÍCULOS DE TRANSILVANIA AUTONOMÍA so-called first and second Vienna Awards (adopted EN LO RELATIVO A LAS CUESTIONES in 1938 and 1940 respectively) lasted only until the end of the war, after which Szeklerland once again EDUCATIVAS Y RELIGIOSAS” became a part of Romania, as well as the Soviet sphere of influence. This latter fact proved to be 2~5. PROMISES AND PRACTICES 100 YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR SZEKLER AUTONOMY IN ROMANIA. ATTILA DABIS 19 • A regional executive power, responsible for a constitutional order of Romania due to the fact that democratically elected autonomous legislature. the first article of the constitution stipulates that The latter would have its seat in Marosvásárhely/ the country is a “sovereign, independent, unitary Târgu Mures, the historical capital of Szeklerland, and indivisible National State”. This misbelief and would take over the exercise of various follows from the general misunderstanding on the competences from the central state, as set out in connection between state sovereignty and the the statute of autonomy. devolution of powers to sub-state entities. In fact, • The autonomous government would assume there are no constitutional obstacles to establish jurisdiction from the central state to make a territorial autonomy within Romania. There are decisions in: education and culture; mass only political obstacles, which tend to be wrapped communication and media; public welfare; and presented as legal ones as a means to avoid roads and transportation; local commercial- and any kind of dialogue with the representatives of the industrial activity; agriculture; forestry; mining and Szekler community on regional power sharing.(7) energy production; determining its own municipal system; ownership and management of public (8) property, utilities, and local tax revenues. PRESENT DAY CHALLENGES • The funding base for the exercise of these As mentioned earlier, Romania has always competencies would come from the autonomous been reluctant to accept constraints on its authority regions capacity to levy and collect its own taxes towards minorities. Various political and diplomatic and fees. The bulk of these revenues would elites preferred investing their creative energies in remain in the region, but a pre-negotiated sum generating the appearance that the country abides would be transferred to the central budget, just by their international commitments regarding like in the case of the Basque country. minority protection to actually abiding by them. The • The Hungarian language would become an consequences of this general rule of law deficiency official language in Szeklerland, together with are tangible in everyday life. the Romanian language. There would also be a The Szekler community as a whole, and linguistic quota, such as the one existing in South- their autonomy aspirations in particular are being Tyrol, meaning that the linguistic composition of the treated as a threat to national security. This is the region -as established by the last census- should reason why even blatant violations of fundamental be reflected in the composition of the personnel human rights are perceived as a legitimate tool of the public institution, notwithstanding the fact against people associated with the autonomy that all public employees would be obliged to movement. A salient example in this respect have fluency in both Hungarian
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