as honorary chairman of a party representing the Hungarian minority in the ex-Communist nation, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, February 3.
Tokes, who is one of about two million ethnic Hungarians in Romania, said he left the post he had filled since 1990 to "protest" against the current policies of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (HDUR).
The HDUR was founded after the ouster of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu in 1989, under whose rule the mainly Reformed and Catholic ethnic Hungarians suffered for decades.
In a statement released during this weekend’s HDUR conference in the Romanian town of Satu Mare, Tokes suggested the party had abandoned its principles.
"It was not me who deviated from the line of the HDUR. It was the official line of the HDUR that deviated from the values, mentality, program and objectives that characterized the organization initially. It was not me who left the HDUR," the Hungarian News Agency MTI quoted him as saying.
PARTY TENSIONS
His resignation came after tensions within the party, with Tokes representing a faction that wants more autonomy for ethnic Hungarians living in Romania’ s Transylvania, a huge territory that Hungary lost after World War One.
"It was the union that squeezed me out. The HDUR is already over the zenith of its history. Its strength will last until maintained by the present governments of Romania and Hungary," the bishop said.
Tokes urged the governments of Romania and Hungary to regard the historical Hungarian churches as their chief partners in their policy towards ethnic Hungarian communities.
INCREASINGLY ISOLATED
However some government and church officials have suggested that Tokes, who suffered under Communism, increasingly isolated himself from mainstream politics. He also has been criticized for confusing his job and mission as bishop with politics, charges Tokes denies.
On Sunday, February 2, the HDUR members re-elected Bela Marko as its chairman and not to fill the abandoned post of honorary president post.
Despite the Tokes-row, Marko said he wanted to "enable all to say either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and give place to all trends that manifested themselves during the congress."
Marko added the HDUR would help ethnic Hungarians to feel once again at home "in their native land, and modernize Transylvania and their community," MTI reported.
DUAL CITIZENSHIP
Congress participants also urged governments to also examine ways and means of introducing dual citizenship for ethnic Hungarians and not to sacrifice their cause "on the altar of European Union integration and good-neighborly relations."
The participants adopted a resolution, emphasizing that Hungary’s recently adopted controversial Status Law should support those who wish to retain their national identity, after consultations with the EU, which Hungary is expected to join 2004.
Hungary’s legislation gives social and educational benefit to ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring countries. But Romania and Slovakia have criticized the Status Law, saying it could lead to discrimination and intervention in their domestic affairs.
