MThe Hungarian Foreign Ministry demanded that the Ukrainian authorities stop the “atrocities” against Hungarians Hungary again demanded that Ukraine stop the oppression of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia. Budapest stated that “constant and systematic harassment and deprivation of the rights of national minorities are unacceptable”
Hungarian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State for Bilateral Relations Tamas Mentzer published a statement on his page in social networks about the actions of the Ukrainian authorities in Transcarpathia against the Hungarian community. He called them unacceptable and condemned them.
“Anti-Hungarian decisions and actions are, of course, unacceptable, we condemn what happened. We call on the local authorities to immediately stop the atrocities against Hungarians. We call on the state authorities of Ukraine to immediately do everything to cancel the anti-hungarian decisions and restore the previous state,” he said.
The Hungarian edition Magyar Nemzet reported yesterday that Hungarian flags and signs in Hungarian were removed from public institutions of the Transcarpathian city of Mukachevo and local villages. So, the sign in Hungarian was removed from the football academy, created with the support of Hungary, and in Mukachevo itself the director of the Hungarian secondary school was dismissed. “According to local residents, at night the police went to the settlements, took down the flags, folded them. Then they returned to check whether they had not been returned to their place,” the correspondent of the publication reported.
“If Ukraine wants to become a member of the European Union, constant and systematic harassment and deprivation of the rights of national minorities are unacceptable,” Tamash Mentzer commented on the actions of the Ukrainian authorities.
Transcarpathia, which is now part of Ukraine, was part of Hungary until 1920. However, the Hungarian national minority still lives in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. According to the 2001 census, about 150 thousand Hungarians lived in this region. Thus, in the city of Beregovo, the proportion of Hungarians according to the 2001 censusit is more than 48%, despite the fact that 38% of Ukrainians in the city. In 2018, the Magyar Hang newspaper, citing a study by the Ferenc Rakoczy II Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute and the National Institute for Political Studies, reported that their number in the region decreased by 21 thousand and is approximately 131 thousand people.
In 2012, the local administration granted Hungarian the status of a regional language, which allowed it to be officially used in document management. But in 2018, the law on regional languages became invalid. Budapest believes that Ukraine oppresses ethnic Hungarians. In July 2022, after Russia began military operations in Ukraine, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest was ready to take measures if necessary to save and protect Hungarians living in the Transcarpathian region.
In mid-January, the head of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s office, Gergei Guyash, said that Budapest would not allow the transit of weapons to Ukraine through Transcarpathia in the interests of the local Hungarian minority. He explained that “the government’s goal is to protect Transcarpathia from war for as long as possible.”
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