Trianon peace diktat has left never-healing wounds

More than a century ago, on 4 June 1920, the victorious powers had Hungary sign the Trianon Treaty, causing the country enormous losses. Hungary’s territory (excluding Croatia) diminished from 283,000 to 93,000 square kilometers and its population from 18.2 million to 7.6 million. On 31 May 2010, the Hungarian parliament declared the day of the signing of the Trianon Peace Treaty the Day of National Cohesion with the intention of strengthening the sense of belonging together between the separated national communities.

20200604, Budapest Trianon 100 - Száz táncos közös néptánc előadása a budapesti Hősök terén Táncosok a Táncszáz a Hősök terén rendezvényen az első világháborút lezáró trianoni békeszerződés aláírásának 100. évfordulóján, a nemzeti összetartozás napján. A megemlékezést a Magyar Teátrumi Társaság szervezte, amelyen száz táncos közös, élőzenével kísért néptánc előadása emlékeztet a trianoni diktátumra annak száz évvel ezelőtti aláírása órájában és percében. Fotó: Knap Zoltán (KZ) Bors Fotó: Bors/Knap Zoltán

Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) voted 'no' 

Thirteen years ago, on 31 May 2010, the Hungarian parliament declared the day the Trianon Peace Diktat was signed as the Day of National Cohesion. 302 lawmakers voted in favor, 55 against and 12 abstained. In addition to Fidesz and the Christian Democrats (KDNP), the Jobbik Party, Ferenc Juhasz (from MSZP) and Andras Schiffer (from LMP) voted in favor, while 55 members of MSZP's parliamentary group voted against it, and 12 MPs from the green LMP Party abstained.

Watch fire lit on the Hungary-Croatia border on the Day of National Cohesion two years ago. Photo: Titanilla Korosa

The Act on the Testimony for National Cohesion passed by Hungary's National Assembly declares that “all members and communities of the Hungarian nation, subjected to the jurisdiction of other states, belong to the single Hungarian nation whose cross-border cohesion is a reality and, at the same time, a defining element of the personal and collective identity of Hungarians.”

Let's remember Trianon on Sunday!

The National Assembly then affirmed Hungary’s commitment to support the natural claims for the maintenance and cultivation of relations between members and communities of the Hungarian nation and the promotion of various forms of collective autonomy based on accepted practices in Europe. The law ascertained that previous attempts known from history, aimed at the resolution of issues resulting from the enforced Trianon Peace Diktat, either through redrawing borders with the help of foreign powers, or through the elimination of national identity in the name of internationalism, have failed.

Inauguration of the statute of the Turul Bird, the symbol of national cohesion, in Somogyvar, 2022. Photo: Somogyi Hirlap/Robert Lan

Hence, Hungary's National Assembly declared that related issues may only be resolved within the framework defined by international law, through cooperation based on mutual respect of equal, democratic and sovereign states, and that such cooperation may only derive from the freedom of the individual - including the free choice of national identity - and from the right to self-determination of national communities. At the same time, the Hungarian parliament condemned all efforts and aspirations aimed at assimilating members of a nation living in minority in another state.

Cover photo: Every year, commemorations and events are held in many places on the Day of National Cohesion. (Photo: Bors/Zoltan Knap)