They spoke at a government-sponsored conference in Budapest, just a week after Serbia’s neighbors Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia recognized Kosovo as an independent country.
Officials of ethnic Hungarians, including many Reformed and Catholic Christians living in Serbia and Romania, have expressed concerns about the move, saying it could lead to revenge attacks against them by those opposing Kosovo’s independence.
These fears are especially evident in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, home of some 300-thousand ethnic Hungarians, said Istvan Pastor president of the political party Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians.
REVENGE ATTACKS
His ethnic Hungarian party, with seats in the provincial and national parliaments, wasn’t pleased with Hungary’s decision to recognize Kosovo, amid fears of ethnic tensions. "It’s an obvious fact. Let me tell you if somebody is living as a minority in his own homeland, but still not in his own motherland, this is a danger one always has to reckon with," he told BosNewsLife.
At least 2.5 million ethnic Hungarians live in areas that were part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which was broken up after World War One.
Despite the tensions, Hungarian government officials appealed to ethnic Hungarians to understand their decision to recognize Kosovo. Among them was Erika Torzsok, who leads the Department of Nation Policy at the prime ministers office.
"There were discussions between the Hungarian foreign ministry and the Hungarians of Vojvodina Province on this matter," she explained to BosNewsLife in an interview. "We tried to tell them that Hungary realizes the sensitivities and was therefore not among the first countries to recognize the independence of Kosovo. The independence of Kosovo was granted by the international community," she added.
MORE RIGHTS
One of the proposals at the conference was to ensure that other areas in Europe will not follow Kosovo’s example, by promoting more rights and autonomy for the millions of ethnic Hungarians living in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Supporters of this plan include Attila Varga, the deputy leader of the parliamentary party Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, which claims to represent the estimated 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians living in that country.
"I believe the major learning (of Kosovo’s independence) is that minorities should be granted autonomy together with rights to avoid a situation like we had in Kosovo, where violence was applied," he said.
Hungary’s government has said it wants to support the plan with diplomatic initiatives, but admits there are tensions with Serbia. Belgrade has recalled ambassadors from Hungary and other countries that recognized Kosovo, which it regards as the cradle of Serbian culture and heritage.
In addition Slovakia has already suggested that Hungary has lost its credibility regarding minorities. On Wednesday, Slovakia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Hungarian diplomats, asking them for an explanation after the Hungarian village of Pilisszentkereszt moved Slovak cultural institutions out of their premises.
"The Slovak government expects the Hungarian government to use all political and legal measures to eliminate this devastating interference against the Slovak minority in Hungary," Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said in published remarks. The former communist neighbors and new European Union member states have long argued over the treatment of their respective minorities. Relations deteriorated when Fico chose the far-right Slovak National Party as a coalition partner in 2006, according to Hungarian officials. (BosNewsLife’s NEWS WATCH is a regular look at news developments impacting the Church and/or compassionate professionals. Parts of this BosNewsLife News story also airs on Deutsche Welle (www.deutschewelle.de and the Voice America (VOA) networks. www.voanews.com).
