Radical Romanians Poised to Mobilize for New Provocation in Szeklerland

Plans are afoot to stage a big celebration in Sfântu Gheorghe on December 1.

Román nacionalásták Üzvölgyében Forrás: Maszol: Borsi Balázs

Mihai Tirnoveanu, leader of the radical Romanian group Calea Neamului (Path of the Nation), notorious for causing repeated scandals at the Uz Valley military cemetery, has extended an invitation to his followers to gather in Sfântu Gheorghe, as reported by the Maszol  news portal.

Tirnoveanu is rallying patriotic Romanians from across the country to convene in the Szekler town on December 1, Romania's national holiday.

The incitement is palpable

The Path of the Nation is mobilizing all its forces to raise the Romanian tricolor in the heart of the country!

 – reads Tirnoveanu's appeal. He emphasizes that the association was "born out of the struggles for Covasna and Harghita. Here, in the heart of the country and for the heart of the country, we have fought our first battles since 2014," writes the nationalist leader, who claims to be motivated not by hatred but by Romanian brotherhood and brotherly love. He asserts that he has garnered support from all corners of the country, because the "heart of the country" cannot be "defeated alone," Mr Tirnoveanu writes, referring to his call for a gathering in Sfântu Gheorghe.

According to Mr Tirnoveanu, anything representing a "Hungarian structure" in Covasna or Harghita county is "seditious."

"No, we are not the "outsiders." They are the ones coming from outside the Romanian sphere, serving a policy of territorial autonomy directly coordinated by the Budapest government, according to ethnic criteria", the Path of the Nation chief explains.

The authorities are doing nothing

This is not the first time that such an event has been organized, recalls The Imre Miko Minority Rights Legal Services. In the past years, provocative anti-Hungarian rallies and events have been organized on numerous occasions, and the venues chosen "are places where peaceful Hungarian communities live. Here, they provoke and humiliate them with aggressive, anti-Hungarian manifestations and slogans. Unfortunately, the authorities are not taking any steps to curb these incidents."

Mihai Tirnoveanu proclaims that they are fully focused on bringing everyone to Sfântu Gheorghe, to attend the big celebration on December 1. The leader of the Path of the Nation added that by their presence they are responding to the call of their "Romanian brothers and sisters" living here and showing solidarity with the Romanian nationalities living here, so that "the heart of the country does not beat all by itself, lonely among those of different blood and faith."

The anti-Hungarian members of the aforementioned Romanian groups have staged rallies in Sfântu Gheorghe to mark December 1st on many occasions in previous years, chanting xenophobic, nationalist slogans and inciting against the Hungarian community. 

Commenting on the event, Erika Benko, head of The Imre Miko Minority Rights Legal Services, expressed her disapproval, saying "I condemn it because I think it harms balanced and harmonious ethnic relations, it serves to create hatred and tension, not peaceful coexistence between communities. I hope that the authorities will act with due rigor, because there is no place for such primitive and offensive nationalism in a European state."

Radicals recently held "celebration" at Uz Valley cemetery 

As the Maszol news portal pointed out, members of the Path of the Nation (Calea Neamului) group and the Orthodox Brotherhood gathered on October 22 at the Uz Valley military cemetery, to attend a ceremony marking Romanian Army Day (October 25) in a graveyard where no Romanian soldiers are known to be buried. Despite this, supporters of these two organizations had previously erected one hundred and fifty wooden crosses in the cemetery without any permission and in full view of the authorities, without any intervention.

At the time, Mihail Tirnoveanu said that they would do whatever it took to keep the wooden crosses, erected in early summer, in place. Simultaneously, with his anti-European and anti-foreign rants that resonated with many far-right sentiments, he escalated the situation and emphasized that "although Romania's history is missing from the school curriculum today, the teaching of the Holocaust has been made compulsory". He also declared that "Romania belongs to the Romanians and must remain the homeland of the Romanians". He underlined that he strongly condemned the inclusion of other nations in the country.

The cemetery program concluded with a speech from a representative of the National Movement (Mișcarea Populara) and the nationalist Romanian Identity Community (Comunitatea Identitară Română). Participants shared a meal to alleviate the day's fatigue, accompanied by blaring Romanian military songs through loudspeakers across the cemetery, where victims of the rampant massacre are laid to rest. Attendees of the event also unfurled a banner reading "Hungarians, go back to Mongolia where you came from," which asserted that "Hungary is not on the map of Europe." The banner included an incoherent and incorrect Romanian text, which roughly translates in Hungarian: "The barbarian Hungarians came to our lands in 1290 with an intention to plunder. Subsequently, the Mongol-Hungarians also brought with them their families," as Hungary's state news agency (MTI) reported at the time.

Cover photo: Extremist Romanian organization holds march in Uz Valley (Photo: Balazs Borsi/Maszol)