CNMT's Tokes Laszlo: We want to gain the rights of Hungarian autonomy

The chair of the Hungarian National Council from Transylvania (CNMT), Tokes Laszlo, stated, on Wednesday, in a press conference held in western Cluj-Napoca, that the regime change in December 1989 is not complete if there are not changes in what regards minorities.

"We believe that the change of regime must happen in the minority level as well, because the change of regime through the fall of dictatorship in Romania is not complete without such a change in the minority level, namely we wish to regain the liberty of our community, especially by gaining self-determination, the rights of Hungarian autonomy," said Tokes.

In context, he recalled the Treaty of Trianon.

"Parallel with the anniversary of the Revolution this year is the centennial of the Trianon Dictate, when Transylvania was incorporated to the Romanian Kingdom. As it is known, we are not conducting a grievance policy, a negative one regarding this centennial, but we are putting accent on national solidarity and on a positive attitude towards what happened 100 years ago," said the CNMT chair.

Tokes Laszlo added that even the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) has forgotten the claims of the Hungarian community.

"From the very beginning we started under the sign of these claims and as an answer to these claims the FSN [National Salvation Front] Statement in January (1990, ed. n.), in which the right of the Hungarian community, the collective rights of the Hungarian community in Romania was recognized, namely the right of the Hungarian community to territorial autonomy was not denied. (...) Meanwhile, unfortunately, even the UDMR nomenclature has forgotten this basic claim of the Szekler land and the Partium region, which requires a special autonomous status," the CNMT leader emphasized.

Continuing, Tokes Laszlo said that "we request the UDMR revise its current policy and cooperate in tight unity in order to complete this desideratum of the Hungarians."

He also referred to the elections this year and said that Hungarian voters must be recuperated, and UDMR must accept competition.

"The Hungarian Alliance in Transylvania is preparing for elections, we believe Hungarian politics in Romania is jeopardized by a political assimilation in Romanian parties. More and more votes are lost to Romanian parties. If we want to keep the Hungarian voter base around Hungarian parties by concord and cooperation, then we manage to maximize the Hungarian representativeness in Romania. It's absolutely necessary to regain the Hungarian electorate. It's known that from one million, the votes we had 30 years ago, we dropped to below 400,000. (...) It's absolutely necessary for the national political wing fortify and, not as an enemy, UDMR must accept as naturally political competition the Hungarian Alliance in Transylvania. I hope we reach this wisdom and stand to gain from the elections," concluded Tokes Laszlo.