Anti-Hungarian provocateurs grow bold

A solution that would please everyone in the case of the military cemetery in the Uz Valley is impossible.

Úzvölgye, 2023. július 11. A Nemzet Útja (Calea Neamului) román szervezet által, az eltávolított betonkeresztek helyére kihelyezett új fakeresztek az úzvölgyi katonatemetőben 2023. július 11-én. A szervezet vezetője, Mihai Tirnoveanu a román védelmi minisztériummal folytat tárgyalást és a „román parcella” hivatalossá tételét kéri. MTI/Veres Nándor Fotó: MTI/Veres Nándor

The military cemetery in the Uz Valley has become a symbol. It has been pinned on the map of Romanian nationalists as a place to occupy, and at the same time, it was added to the set of symbols of the Szekler and Transylvanian Hungarian national resistance. The images of the forceful intrusion on 6 June 2019, of the Orthodox consecration of the unlawfully created new plot, and of the human chain Szeklers formed around the graveyard have become dark moments in history. 

The case was brought before the Romanian judiciary, where the odds are not in Hungarians' favour when it comes to symbolic issues that are ethnic in nature, just take the legal ordeal the Catholic grammar school in Targu Mures (Marosvasarhely) went through. However, there were two positive surprises in the case of the Uz Valley cemetery. Firstly, the court issued a final ruling stating that the area on the border of Harghita county in Szeklerland and Bako county in Moldova belongs to the municipality of Sanmartin (Csikszentmarton) and ruled that the concrete crosses were illegally erected by the municipality of Darmanesti (Dormanfalva), ordering the municipality to restore the cemetery to its original form. The relatively swift implementation of the court decision was the second surprise for Hungarian media in Transylvania and sensitive politicians familiar with the situation, expecting very low chances for compliance with the ruling.

Although George Simion, an ultras-turned-MP  –  leader of the Union for the Alliance of Romanians (AUR) now sitting in parliament and one of the most vocal opposition politicians in Bucharest –  who took an active part in the 2019 desecration of the cemetery, gave a restrained response to the restoration of the cemetery to its original form, it was predictable that things were not going stay as they were for very long. The radical anti-Hungarian organisation, the Nation's Path (Calea Neamului, CN), which some Romanian news portals describe as "neo-Nazi", set the date for another action, and on 8 July, just over a hundred people erected a hundred and fifty wooden crosses  – unlawfully once again. CN chief Mihai Tirnoveanu continues to claim that "several documents prove" that 148 of the Romanian soldiers who died in the fighting in the Uz Valley during World War I were buried in the cemetery there. However, Romanian authorities have not confirmed this information.

The passive behaviour of the gendarmerie and police, who were present in large numbers at the scene, was the most shocking aspect in the desecration of the cemetery on 8 July. In response to an inquiry from the Transylvanian Maszol portal, law enforcement officials said that they would investigate the incident subsequently in due time. In response to this, Gabor Hajdu, MP of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), said if the police see a woman being raped, it is mandatory to intervene, it is not enough to simply take note  and follow what is happening.

The way one of the news channels, Romania TV, broadcast the events was outrageous. The correspondent, reporting live on the ground, broke the news of the unlawful alteration of the military cemetery with supportive enthusiasm. Most of the Romanian media covered the incident briefly or not at all. Neither the government nor the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, who received a German award in June for his "tireless and multifaceted commitment" to minority rights, spoke out against the scandalous incident.

A solution that would please everyone in the case of the military cemetery in the Uz Valley is impossible. A compromise solution is possible, but only if the original arrangement of the cemetery is altered. Today it is difficult to say whether a settlement will require consultations between Hungary and Romania or negotiations between the Szekler municipalities, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and the Bucharest government, namely the Romania's defence ministry. The problem is that anti-Hungarian organisations, including AUR with 20 per cent social support, can put the issue of the cemetery on the political agenda at any time, regardless of the legal background or the progress of the negotiations seeking a solution.

Small but vocal chauvinist groups have grown bold since the cemetery  was first desecrated in 2019. This is no coincidence, as their unlawful action practically went unpunished, and they have enjoyed support from a considerable part of the Romanian media all along.

Hungarian President Katalin Novák's private visit to Alba Iulia (Gyulafehervar) in May 2022 was disrupted with a well-organized provocation, and demonstrators sometimes threatening with physical aggression tried to make it impossible for Hungary's president to attend the inauguration of Hungarian poet Ferenc Kolcsey's statue in Carei (Nagykaroly) in April this year. Last July, a small group tried to disrupt Viktor Orban during his speech delivered in Baile Tusnad (Tusnadfurdo). Mihai Tirnoveanu, the leader of the troublemakers, has already announced that they will again be present during the Hungarian prime minister's presentation this year with a banner and the flag of Romania.

Now it's up to the Romanian authorities to make a move. Why and for how long will they allow professional anti-Hungarian provocateurs to take centre stage a few hundred kilometres from a war zone?

Cover photo: Cemetery in the Uz Valley (Photo: MTI/Nandor Veres)