Introduction
The break down of the iron curtain and the following liberalisation of the former communist countries in the Baltic, Central Europe, the CIS countries and the Balkan gave the way free for many new developments. These were the change of political systems from socialism to western democracy, introduction of market economy, the possibility of independent internal as well as foreign policy.
Also ethnic conflicts which had been concealed and denied for forty years by the communist rule surfaced with elemental force. In the years since the collapse of communism, new states were formed or re-emerged and nationalist governments sensitives, only to the interests of the ,,state-forming nations" gained power and minorities acted in self-defence. The developments differ in their appearance. They range from folklore revivals and new regional identities of small minorities like Kashubians in Poland, Hutzul in Ukraine and Suebians in Hungary1 over language and citizenship quarrels in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, armed local conflicts in Moldova2 to ethnic cleansing with unthinkable cruelty in Croatia, Bosnia and most recent in Kosovo.
Hereby I want to focus on the greatest minorities in Central Eastern Europe and their percentage compared to the total number of their ethnic group.(_Table 1) This table shows that most of the inter-state and inter-ethnic conflicts which made the headlines in the last years are among those peoples having a high percentage of their population outside their motherland. After the Balkan wars the number of Serbs and Albanians in other than their motherland has decreased due to ethnic cleansing, emigration and if one consider ,,Republika Srpska" in Bosnia and the UNMIK3 -administrated Kosovo as de-facto motherlands.
Table 1: National minorities in Eastern Central Europe4
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The conflicts of Hungarian minorities in Hungary's neighbouring countries also led to inter- state and inter-ethnic conflicts, due to the less spectacular events only little was reported in western media. The following table shows in which countries these Hungarians live and what percentage of population they make in the areas belonging to the Carpathian Basin (_Table 2).
The Carpathian Basin is a synonym of the territory of historical Hungary (before 1920) it includes the Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld), the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld) and the Transylvanian Basin.
Table 2: Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin and percentage of total population and minorities in Hungary5
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These figures and the ethnic map of the Carpathian Basin show that Hungary is a nearly mono-ethnic state being neighboured by its own people at the northern, eastern and southern border.
The first part of the following paper outlines the ethnic history from the Hungarian Conquest in the 9th century on until recent events. This part helps to understand the present inter-ethnic and inter-state relationship of Hungary with its neighbouring countries and peopels described in the second part. The focus in this part is the relationship toward Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Ethnic history in Carpathian Basin
The ethnic history of the Carpathian Basin concerning the Hungarians can be divided in two eras. The first begins with the Hungarian Conquest in 896 and ends with the partition of the Habsburg Empire after the ,,Great War" in 1918. The second begins with the founding or the enlargement of nation states in the Carpathian Basin after the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 and ends with the recent events in former Yugoslavia.
Ethnic history form Hungarian Conquest (896) to Trianon (1920)
The written history of the Carpathian Basin begins in Roman times. During the turmoil of the migration of people little is known of the ethnic composition of this area, because of its geographic position treks of Goths, Huns, Gepides, Awares, Slaws and other nomadic tribes coming up the Danube or over the Carpaths crossed or maybe stayed in this area. In the 8th and 9th century finno-ugric tribes under the leadership of the Magyar6 migrated into this area and conquered in 896 the whole Carpathian Basin. In the period following the Conquest, the natural environment and the capacity of the land to support a large population of the Magyar tribes. At this time, they mostly inhabited the steppe and the lightly forested areas, strategically important valleys and hills that reminded them of the natural conditions of their previous homeland and at the same time suited their half-nomadic way of live.
After the battle of Augsburg/Lechfeld were the Magyar were defeated by German knights, they settled down and began an agricultural way of live. In 1000 the Hungarian kingdom was formed by the baptised King István and marriage with Gisela of Bavaria connected the country with the western European culture. The change of civilisation created a demographic increase and the Hungarian ethnic borders were extended to the verge of the mountainous regions. For example the Hungarian tribe of Székelys settled in the mountains of Southeast Transylvania as border guards. The invasions of Asian nomad tribes like Mongols and Patzinak in the 12th and 13th century created distruction and demographic losses, but had no significant effect on the ethnic borders of Hungarians. The expulsion and deportation during the Ottoman occupation led to a change of the ethnic map in the Carpathian Basin. The areas mostly effected were the southern areas like Banat (around Timisoara) and Baranya (around Pécs) as well as the plains along the rivers and the area of Satu Mare. To resettle these areas and to protect the southern borders Slavic, German (Suebian) and Romanian people were located in these under-populated but agricultural cultivable areas. The Székely people were effected to a little extend by these historic events due to the protected natural environment and their autonomous status. Therefore their religious and cultural development became independent of the Hungarian mainland. (Székely: _ p. )
Since the creation of the Hungarian kingdom as a part the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian- Empire in 1867 the government in Budapest pursued a nationalistic policy of cultural and ethnic assimilation called ,,magyarisation". This led to an ethnic homogeneous mainland and to anti-Hungarian tensions among the non-Hungarian ethnic groups.
In the First World War Hungary was allied with Germany and the Osman Empire, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire parts of Hungarian territory were occupied by Entente-troops and independence movements.7,8
Ethnic history from Trianon until now
In the treaty of Trianon the countries or independence movements allied with the victorious Entente used the weakness of the defeated state. In this treaty Hungary lost not only territory which was populated by a non-Hungarian majority it also lost 1/3 of its Hungarian population.9 These people were confronted being a minority and becoming the target of anti- Hungarian revenge.
After 1920 the areas inhabited by Hungarian, became massively militarised frontier zones, because Hungarian foreign policy was dominated by revanchism and irredentism it also threaded its neighbours with military interventions. Because of the inter-ethnic and inter-state tensions ca. 350,000 fled to the motherland between 1918-1924. The number of Hungarian in the annexed areas between 1924 and 1940 decreased due to different reasons.(_Table 3) Whereas for Hungary in 1910 the mother tongue was the criterion for the ethnic group, in 1930 the most countries divided the population in ethnicities for the censuses . Therefore Jews and Roma were considered as own ethnic groups. Also ethnic origin was a criterion, e.g. in Slovakia people with Slavic names were regarded as Slovakians and in Transcarpathia Hungarians of Greek Catholic believe were listed as Ruthenians. People in contact zones or with mixed origin preferred belonging to the majority for personal advantages moreover most of countries had minority-hostile national and cultural policy.10
The corrections of borders during the WW II from 1939 to 1944, were Hungary as an ally of the Axis, led to the incorporation of territories with Hungarian population in South Slovakia, Transcarpathia, North Transylvania and the area belonging the Kingdom of Yugoslavia into the Hungarian state. In this period these areas were colonised with Hungarian form Bukovina, from the mainland and also Hungarian officials11 settled down, Jews declared them as Hungarian as well as bilingual people listed them among the majority. During many Serbs and Romanians fled fearing Hungarian revenge or were expelled.12 ,13
After the Second Word War the number of Hungarians outside of Hungary in the borders of 1920 fell from 3,2 million in 1941 to 2,4 million in 1950. In this time only 170,000 Hungarians migrated to Hungary and or were deported to Bohemia. The Holocaust of the Hungarian Jews and Roma in 1944 created severe ethnic losses among the population and Hungarians were victims of vendettas by Romanians and Serbs. However the majority of these 800.000 people were regarded as non-Hungarian due to their own will, because of the general anti-Hungarian atmosphere or of manipulations of statistics.14 At the same time the mono-ethnic character of Hungary was strenghtend by the expulsion of Germans forced by the Soviet Union and the ,,population-exchange" between Hungary and Czechoslovakia. To escape from deportations many people belonging to minorities regarded them self as Hungarians.
Table 3: Change of number of the Hungarian minorities in the Carpathian Basin15
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During the Communist time the total number of Hungarians in the neighbour countries was stable, whereas their percentage of the total population declined. This is due to resettlement of these areas with people of the majority ethnic because industrialisation and the goal to change the ethnic composition . The demographic growth of Hungarians in communities they formed the majority was equalised by the losses through inter-ethnic marriages and assimilation in towns. The exceptions to this process are Croatia were the assimilation was very strong (both are Roman-Catholic) and Slovakia were number of Hungarian increased by 32 % between 1950 and 1961, because the policy of ,,re-Slovakisation" ended.16 ,17
Since the political changes in 1989 the number Hungarians changed only in Romania, which is to less extend a ethnic process than political manipulation of statistics, and in former Yugoslavia. The number in Vojvodina declined because of the nationalist policy of Belgrade under Milosevic, who abolished the autonomy status of the Vojvodina18 . The number of Hungarians in Croatia was effected by the Croatian-Serbian war in East-Slavonia. In 1991 the villages around and the town Vukovár it self were victims of the ethnic cleansing of the Yugoslavian army and the forces of the ,,Republic Krayina".19 Also the territory was conquered back by Croatia many refugees stayed in Hungary and did return to their destroyed homes.
Inter-ethnic and interstate relations concerning minorities
Hungary defines it self as the state of the Hungarian nation and as advocate of the Hungarians in other countries. Hungarian minorities have further reaching rights in their motherland compared to foreigners but the future status is still under dispute. Like the Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently stated ,,they will have more rights than tourists but less than citizens".20 The ethnic minorities living in Hungary all have their motherland in a country neighbouring Hungary, except of Roma and the small Jewish, Greek and Armenian communities. Their minority rights were strengthened since 1989 and meet European Union's and Council of Europe's requirements.21
The status of minorities has high impact on interstate relations. The relationship between Hungary and its neighbour-countries is crucial for the further internal and external developments especially regarding further European integration. Towards the western neighbours Austria and Slovenia the interstate relationship is dominated by factual issues concerning economic cooperation, security and the accession to the European Union. In the relationship towards the other neighbour countries practical constraints are overshadowed by issues related with the ethnic minorities. These questions lead often to tensions in external relation or to political disputes between nationalist and liberal forces in Hungary and the neighbouring counties.
In the following part describes and analyses the relationship between Hungary and Slovakia, Romania as well as Ukraine concerning the minorities. The relationship towards Yugoslavia (Serbia) will not be analysed because of the most recent events (Kosovo war, Embargo against Serbia and Yugoslavia's struggles with democratisation) the state of affairs are very complex and only little material is available about the present situation.
Hungary and Slovakia
The history of South Slovakia regarding living together of both ethnicities created friction between Slovakians and Hungarians as well between the governments in Bratislava and Budapest. In everyday life the question of ethnicity is not dominating, both people are in majority Roman-Catholic and share a common culture, this makes assimilation in these areas possible were Slovaks or Hungarian are in minority and do not build strong communities. Under the surface relations are difficult, full of resentments and stereotypes. The Slovakian regard the Hungarians as arrogant gentry people, they suspect the Hungarians of conspiracy with Budapest to carve Slovakia up to unite the southern districts with the motherland, like in 1939.22 The Hungarian regard them self as superior to the Slovaks, which are seen as narrow- minded peasants. They fear that the rising nationalism forces them to leave the country or in the worst-case scenario being expelled from their homes, as it was already planned in 1945, but due to Allied intervention not carried out.
After the political changes 1989 in both countries the relationship between the federal government in Prague and Budapest improved significant. The political organisations of the Hungarian minority were part of the coalition and minority rights were strengthened. At the same time the relationship to the regional authorities in Bratislava, gaining more and more power, deteriorated. The Slovak nationalist movement influenced public opinion towards forming an independent state. This activities not only contained the strengthening of the Slovak national identity, but also made use of anti-Hungarian resentments.23
The Hungarians formed several cultural and political organisation as mouthpiece for their interests. The organisations are linked by forming a platform organisation called ,,Együttélés" (Co-operation), which is also open for other minorities like Ruthenians, Germans and Poles. These organisation demands equitable representation in state institutions and protection for their cultural, educational, religious and linguistic activities. No demands were made for territorial autonomy or change of borders. Együttélés receives financial support by the Hungarian government, this creates friction with Slovakian ultra-nationalist movement which accuse Hungary interfering in internal affairs. This became evident as the Hungarian parties were in favour of the preservation of the CSFR as well as Prague tried to be mediator between the nationalistic policy of Meciar in Bratsilava and the minorities demands. The relationship between Hungarians and the federate government was burdened by passing the law of rehabilitation, excluding Hungarians from compensation being dispossessed by communists. This was possible by taking only expropriations after1948 into consideration, because the majority of Hungarians and Germans were dispossessed from between 1945 and 1948.24
The nationalist policy of independent Slovakia since1993 under Meciar and his HZDS/SNS government made the situation worse. Slovakia accused Hungary for repressive policy against the Slovakian minority in Hungary. They used the situation of this minority as counterarguement for minority rights in their own country, but did not react when Hungary introduced its wide-ranging minority rights. The government cut subsidies of minority organisations, a new registration law was passed, making only registrations in Slovak language possible, and the definition of Slovakia as ,,nation state of Slovaks" was put into the constitution. Minority rights were further curtailed by an broad disregarding of rule of law in Slovakia. The government set an example by passing a language law breaking the constitution. The unequal economic development between the better performing southern border areas, especially around the capitol and Kosice, which are populated by Hungarians, and the economic decline of Slovakia's heartland were old-fashioned heavy industry is located, aggravated the situation because the latter are the strongholds of the nationalist movement.25
Slovakia's minority policy impaired the integration process into the European Union. The Council of Europe criticised the legal developments and this was one of the major reasons for the exclusion of Slovakia from NATO membership as well as from the first tier for EU accession-negotiations. This policy was answered by the majority of Slovaks by electing R. Schuster, a Carpathian-German and former mayor of Kosice, as president and the new government consisting of less nationalist parities as well as the Hungarian SMK. Since this time the relation between Hungary and Slovakia improved as well as the inter-ethnic relations. A new language law was passed making a Hungarian University in Slovakia possible and both governments agreed to reconstruct the Danube bridge at Esztergom, which ruins were for 50 years a symbol for division.26
Hungary and Romania
The major part of Hungarians in Romania live in Transylvania, in lesser extend they settle in the area around Satu Mare or in Banat. Transylvania/Erdély is part of the Hungarian heartland and belonged until 1920 to the Hungarian state. The Hungarians in this area call them self Székely and their culture, religion as well as language is different compared with the motherland. The Hungarians regard the Székely as native mountain people and adore their original culture but also see them as backwards. The Székely regard them self as the real Hungarians because their culture is to much lesser extend influenced from German, Italian or other foreign culture. This area is also part of the three historic home countries of the Romanians (or Dacians27 ) Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania and has for the Romanian a high historic and symbolic value. The national hero of Romania Vlad Tepes ,,Dracula" is connected with this area.
The historic ethnic development was aggravated by religious, most Székely are Calvinist and the other Hungarian Catholic whereas the Romanians are Orthodox, and class difference. The Romanian as stereotype for an Hungarian is comparable to Romas, which they regard as dirty and lazy people not able to organise their life and therefore steal. The Romanians see the typical Hungarian as a greedy trader, making conspiracy with Hungary to get Transylvania back or to run Romania down. The effect of the cleavages can be seen by the little number of inter-ethnic marriage between Hungarians and Romanians, although the most German Saxon have Hungarian relatives. During the communist government of Ceausescu their was a ,,village reorganisation"-programme in which over 6,000 villages, mostly Székely or Saxon, were destroyed and people had to move to agro-industrial towns.28
The Romanian uprising in 1989 got strong support from the Hungarians, who hoped as well as the Hungarian government, that the relationship between to democratic states will be better. After a few month these hopes dwindled because the government of National Salvation Front under Iliescu was dominated by ex-communist which prevented the emerge of a democratic system, employed nationalism and the radical wing exploited anti-Hungarian sentiments. At the same time the Romanian authorities suspected the minority organisations not only to demand the right to use Hungarian in school and public, but also in long term to form an autonomous area leading to separation.
The Romanian in Hungary form one of the smallest minorities and are located in East- Hungary close to the border. Since Hungary established a Office for National and Ethnic Minorities that supports the minority organisations to formulate their demands, allows access to media and gurantees education in mother tongue or bilingual, the position of the minority has not given cause for major disputes, except still many people of Romanian origin do not show open their nationality fearing discrimination.
The economic decline in Romania heated the situation in Transylvania up and led to conflicts on local and intergovernmental level. Violent attacks on Hungarian communities by ultra- nationalists created incidents, in which 8 people in 1990 were killed and over 300 injured. This led to radicalisation of both sides. Nationalist parties became stronger and linked them self with the ruling ex-communist party. The leaders of the nationalist movements also claimed that the Székely were magyarised Romanians who were forced to adopt Hungarian culture during the occupation and therefore should no have minority status. On the other side radical separatist Hungarian organisations were formed, they were supported by ultra- nationalist groups in Hungary, also Budapest and the major Hungarian minority organisation disassociated them from these splinter-groups, this increased tensions. Hungary stated Romania's integration into European institution depends on minority rights given. Bucharest accused Budapest to interfere into their internal affairs and to stir up anti-Romanian feelings. In the early `90s already 50.000 Hungarians left Romania. Hungary feared a further exodus, which will be a heavy burden for the recovering economy and political stability.29
Since the post-communist government in Budapest was elected interstate relation improved although the new liberal-democratic governement in Bukarest is in coalition with nationalist forces. A bilateral treaty was singed and minority rights were guaranteed and therefor the inter-ethnic relation also improved. The vicious circle of provocation and counter-provocation seems to be broken through, but the internal political and economic situation in Romania seems to be still very unstable, so a good inter-ethnic relationship is not safe. This can be seen by the annual incidents at celebrations for King Matthias or his rival Vlad Tepes as well as the building of monuments for the wartime dictator Ion Antonescu.30 Most recent after the publication of the EU's last progress report Romania accused Hungary to denounce the country to the international institutions.
Hungary and Ukraine
The Hungarian minority in Ukraine is located in the region of Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) in the most western part of the country. The Hungarians in this area are the greatest minority in this multi-ethnic area, the other minorities are Slovaks, Czech, Romanians and Russians as well as Ruthenian minorities like Lemks and Hutzul. The relationship between Hungarians and Ukrainians are rather good, having common rivals like Russians, Czech and Slovaks (in the inter-war period Transcarpathia belonged to Czechoslovakia) as well as belonging to Greek-Catholic church. Hungarians form a small minority in Ukraine compared to Russians, Tartars and Polish, but are concentrated in a small area with high strategic importance, with its transcontinental roads, railways and pipelines for gas and oil it is Ukraine's gate to the west.31
The Hungarian Soviet relationship was burdened after 1956 and the Hungarian in the Soviet Union did not have nationality rights. Budapest very early troubled for good relation with the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, which was seeking for independence, to guarantee minority rights in Transcarpathia and to prevent refugees coming to the mainland. Ukraine in 1990 allowed to form minority organisations. The political organisations supported the independence movement in exchange for cultural autonomy.
In 1991 Hungary was the first country recognising Kiev's independence and also Ukraine was the first neighbouring country Hungary signed a bilateral treaty in 1993. For Ukraine the cultural and financial support for the Hungarian minority by Budapest is also important for the economic development in this area. Some of the Hungarian leaders demanded regional autonomy and Hungary proposed the creation of a free economic zone. Both suggestions were strictly refused by Kiev fearing separatist movements or special arrangements which could be examples for other regions like Crimea or East Ukraine.32
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be stated that inter-ethnic conflicts can only be understood in their historic, religious as well as social context. Usually the reasons for the friction are a combination of several factors also only one is maybe evident.
Nation states see them responsible for their people living in other countries and demand a right to say in minority issues. For the post-communist countries which gained back their independence recently this is seen as another interference in internal affairs. Hereby an interethnic conflict can expand into an inter-state conflict. The 50 years of communist governments ignoring minority issues hindered the process of a self-confident national selfdetermination, which implies also the rights of other nations in ones country. Forming of regional self-administration, cultural autonomy and inter-governmental minority committees are seen as separatism and irredentism.
To defend the nations in this area it has to be said, that these processes took quite long in Western Europe like in South Tyrol or in Schleswig and not concluded yet everywhere (Northern Ireland, Basque Country, Corse, ...). The examples in Western as well as in Central and Eastern Europe show the importance of international organisations like OSCE to prevent the aggravation of tensions and the European integration process to improve the economic and democratic development as well as to promote post-modern values like tolerance.
The Hungarians were able to overcome the nationalistic policy that dominated policy for over 100 years. They grant far reaching minority rights and also show tolerance towards recent migrants33 . It seems that they take the saying of the state founder King István seriously: ,,A country in which more languagea are spoken is a rich country".
Annex
Bibliography
F. Altmann, Dr. M. v. Baratta, Sybille Brander, etc.; Fischer Weltalmanach 2000; 1999; Frankfurt/M.
Janusz Bugajski; Nations in Turmoil; 1995; Boulder, Colorado
European Commission; 1999 Regular Report from the Commission on Hungary's progress towards accession (http://www.europa.eu.int); 1999; Bruxelles; p. 15
Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsis-Hodosi; Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin; 1994; Toronto-Buffalo
Greg Nieuwsma; Lesson in Democracy: Slovakia, its minorities and the European Union; in Centraleurope (http//: www.centraleurope.com); 12/11/1999; Washington D.C.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Status of Ethnic Hungarians to be settled in two years; in Centraleurope (http//: www.centraleurope.com); 19/11/1999; Washington D.C.
Ungarisches Aussenministerium; Ungarns Geschichte; in: Fakten über Ungarn; 1996; Budapest
List of tables
Table 1: National minorities in Eastern Central Europe
Table 2: Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin and percentage of total population and minorities in Hungary
Table 3: Change of number of the Hungarian minorities in the Carpathian Basin
Abriviations
CIS: Commonwealth of Independent States
CSFR: Czechoslovakian Federal Republic
EU: European Union
HZDS: Movement for a Democratic Slovakia
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
OSCE: Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe
SMK: Hungarian Civil Party
SNS: Slovak Nationalist Party
UNMIK: United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
[...]
1 Kashubs: slavic minority in the area of Gdansk Hutzul: slavic minority in the Ukranian Carpaths Suebinas: german minority in Southwest Hungary and near Budapest
2 The conflicts between Gagauz Turkish as well as Ukranian and Russian with the Moldovian majority led in 1994 after armed conflicts to the creation of the autonomous Republic of Gaugazia and the Dnjepr-Republic.
3 UNMIK: United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
4 Sources: F. Altmann, Dr. M. v. Baratta, Sybille Brander, etc.; Fischer Weltalmanach 2000; 1999; Franfurt/M.; p. 625 and 809; Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsis-Hodosi; Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin; 1994; Toronto-Buffalo; p. 14
5 Sources: F. Altmann, Dr. M. v. Baratta, Sybille Brander, etc. p. 817; Kocsis; p. 13
6 The word Magyar is used to describe the ancient finno-ugric tribes, wereas Hungarian is used for the state building people already mingled with other ethics in this area.
7 ibid; p. 15
8 Ungarisches Aussenministerium; Ungarns Geschichte; in: Fakten über Ungarn; 1996; Budapest; p. 25
9 ibid; p. 26
10 Kocsis; p. 18
11 As officials are counted: public servants, police forces, army
12 ibid; p. 19
13 Janusz Bugajski; Nations in Turmoil; 1995; Boulder, Colorado; p. 79, 145, 165
14 Kocsis; p. 20-21
15 Source: Kocsis (after census data); p. 17
16 ibid; p. 38 -41
17 ibid. p. 74
18 Bugajski; p. 150
19 Kocsis; p. 100
20 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Status of Ethnic Hungarians to be settled in two years; in Centraleurope (http//: www.centraleurope.com); 19/11/1999; Washington D.C.; p. 1
21 European Comission; 1999 Regular Report from the Comission on Hungry's progress towards accession (http://www.europa.eu.int); 1999; Bruxelles; p. 15
22 Bugajski; p. 76
23 ibid; p. 79
24 ibid; p. 76-79
25 ibid.; p. 81
26 Greg Nieuwsma; Lesson in Democracy: Slovakia, its minorities and the European Union; in Centraleurope (http//: www.centraleurope.com); 12/11/1999; Washington D.C.
27 ancient Romanians being romanised in culture and language in about 100 A.C.
28 Bugajski; p. 165 -167
29 ibid.; p. 166-169
30 ibid.; p. 244
31 Kocsis,; p. 86
32 Bugajski; p. 52 -54
Frequently asked questions about "Language Preview: Ethnic and Interstate Conflicts in Central Eastern Europe Concerning Minorities"
What is the focus of this document?
This document focuses on ethnic conflicts in Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of communism, particularly concerning the Hungarian minority in neighboring countries like Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. It also addresses the historical context of these conflicts.
What key changes occurred after the collapse of communism in the region?
The collapse of communism led to the shift from socialism to western democracy, the introduction of market economies, independent internal and foreign policies, and the surfacing of ethnic conflicts that had been suppressed during the communist era.
Why is the percentage of a minority population living outside their "motherland" significant?
The document suggests a correlation between a high percentage of a minority population living outside their "motherland" and the likelihood of inter-state and inter-ethnic conflicts.
What is the "Carpathian Basin"?
The Carpathian Basin is a term used to describe the territory of historical Hungary before 1920, including the Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld), the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld), and the Transylvanian Basin.
What are the two main eras discussed concerning Hungarian ethnic history?
The two eras are: 1) From the Hungarian Conquest in 896 to the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, and 2) From Trianon to recent events in former Yugoslavia.
What impact did the Treaty of Trianon have on Hungary?
The Treaty of Trianon resulted in Hungary losing territory populated by both non-Hungarians and a significant portion (1/3) of its Hungarian population, who then became minorities in other countries and faced anti-Hungarian sentiment.
How did the number of Hungarians outside of Hungary change between 1941 and 1950?
The number fell from 3.2 million in 1941 to 2.4 million in 1950 due to migration, deportation, the Holocaust, and vendettas by Romanians and Serbs, though the exact numbers and categorizations are debated.
What is Hungary's role in relation to Hungarian minorities in other countries?
Hungary defines itself as the state of the Hungarian nation and an advocate for Hungarians living in other countries, aiming to provide them with certain rights and support.
What is the relationship between Hungary and Slovakia described as?
The relationship between Hungary and Slovakia is described as fraught with friction rooted in historical living arrangements of both ethnicities. While everyday interactions may seem cordial, resentments and stereotypes are described to be lingering under the surface.
What are some of the historical tensions between Hungarians and Romanians, particularly in Transylvania?
Historical tensions include religious differences (Calvinist/Catholic vs. Orthodox), class differences, competing historical claims to Transylvania, and stereotypes.
What is the situation like for Hungarians in Ukraine (Transcarpathia)?
The relationship between Hungarians and Ukrainians in Transcarpathia is generally described as good, with cooperation and mutual support for each other. Hungary even provided early support for Ukraine's independence.
What are the document's concluding remarks?
The document concludes that inter-ethnic conflicts are complex and require understanding within their historical, religious, and social context. It emphasizes the importance of international organizations and European integration in preventing escalating tensions and promoting tolerance.
- Citation du texte
- Robert Pernetta (Auteur), 2000, Ungarische Minderheiten im Karpathenbecken, Zwischenethnische- und Zwischenstaatliche Beziehungen, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/95068
