June the fourth is a day of remembering, taking stock and gathering strength, the Deputy State Secretary for National Policy said on the Day of National Unity.
Péter Szilágyi said at the central ceremony held in the House of Hungarian Communities: 4 June 1920 is a symbol of a flagrant injustice, the date of the splitting into splinters of the thousand-year-old Hungarian State embraced by the Carpathian Mountains, the beginning of an extraordinary ordeal for the Hungarian nation. A slap in the face for the nationality principle, as Albert Apponyi, the head of the Hungarian peace delegation said at the time, he said.
He reiterated that hundreds of thousands of Hungarian families were torn from the motherland, and were assigned to jurisdictions under Prague, Bucharest and Belgrade. A series of ordeals ensued: exclusion and disenfranchisement, a continual struggle for survival awaited Hungarians. Confiscated Hungarian properties, broken lives throughout the Carpathian Basin. „We have been wearing this black ring for 96 years”, he said.
Though the nation „buckled under the weight of the cross it carried on its back” several times during the course of the 20th century, it straightened up every time. This was the case in the nineteen-twenties and thirties, as well as after World War II, the terror of 1956 and the dictatorship of socialist internationalism. The concept of the nation and our national symbols were forbidden, the very singing of the Hungarian National Anthem was persecuted, and the shelters of the outside world were eliminated, Mr Szilágyi reiterated, adding that this burden has only made the Hungarian community the stronger.
We lived separated from one another, but deep inside, at the bottom of our souls, we kept the values of our nation alive, he said, adding: no one succeeded in obliterating the inheritance of the thousand-year-old Hungary in the Carpathian Basin, it was impossible to obliterate this inheritance. „Kolozsvár will always preserve the memory of King Matthias, there will always be people in Szabadka who speak the language of Kosztolányi, mass will be celebrated for Pázmány in Nagyszombat, and the famous Verecke Pass will always be a symbolic part of the Hungarian homeland”, he said.
The Deputy State Secretary highlighted: self-esteem and respect for the nation compel everyone to act. By seizing control of our fate and helping one another, together, we are better equipped to represent the cause of the large family of the Hungarian people, he said.
The Deputy State Secretary also pointed out that the civic government clearly stated in 2010: it will do everything within its power for the Hungarian people living in the Carpathian Basin and in scattered communities in order to recreate that which was lost in Trianon.
Mr Szilágyi cited from the Fundamental Law: „Bearing in mind that there is one single Hungarian nation that belongs together, Hungary shall bear responsibility for the fate of Hungarians living beyond its borders”, adding that by virtue of this, their responsibility has been tied to the nation, rather than to the state borders.
He said: as a result of the possibility of expedited naturalisation, some 800,000 Hungarians beyond the borders have taken their citizenship oaths, and by virtue of the extension of the franchise, the building of the Hungarian Parliament has once again become a house of the Hungarian nation, and the nation has been united in a constitutional sense.
He also told his audience: Hungary’s national policy programmes lay the emphasis on community building. If necessary, they build kindergartens, schools and colleges, establish universities, and refurbish churches, while economic criteria have also been directed in the centre of national policy. They particularly support Hungarian vocational training institutions beyond the borders and Hungarian entrepreneurs. They have launched the largest economic development programmes of all time in Vojvodina and Transcarpathia, which will be followed by programmes in Muravidék, Drávaszög, Transylvania and the Hungarian parts of Slovakia, he listed.
Mr Szilágyi further said that the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor and Petőfi Sándor Programmes are designed to help scattered Hungarian communities, the Mikes Kelemen Programme serves to gather together overseas Hungarian inheritance, while as part of the Without Borders Programme tens of thousands of students in the Carpathian Basin have the opportunity to go on school trips as a personal experience.
Mr Szilágyi said: the survival of Europe, and our nation in it, is based on our diverse, but yet united culture. In Europe on the brink of crossing the Rubicon of a change of culture, there are still many who do not understand this, he pointed out, adding: this is why „we cannot compromise on the respect that is our due”.
The Deputy State Secretary said: they do not ask for anything more than what is accepted and customary in the Western half of Europe, and what we ourselves give others as their due. Language rights in Slovakia, equality before the law in Transylvania, opportunities on a par with life in Europe in Transcarpathia. Autonomy for Hungarian communities, he said, indicating: they will always speak out if anyone discriminates against Hungarians, and they will always be there for the parts of the nation that may need help.
We do not compromise on what is our due, the Deputy State Secretary said, who believes that if we as a nation act accordingly, we shall be able to write our red-letter days in the history book of the future with pride, „and to experience our Hungarian identity without ever forgetting our losses”.