MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No. 81
MINELRES moderator
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Wed Dec 3 14:31:02 2003
Original sender: Divers Buletin <[email protected]>
No. 81 / December 2, 2003
DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -
SUMMARY
1. ROMA PARTY SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH RULING PARTY
2. VATICAN REPRESENTATIVE BACKS SERVICES IN MAGYAR LANGUAGE FOR THE
CSANGO
3. EXTREMIST ROMANIAN LEADER UNDERGOES 'TRANSFIGURATION.'
FEATURE
4. ROMA WOMAN DIES FOR KILOS OF COAL
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ROMA PARTY SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH RULING PARTY
BUCHAREST - Madalin Voicu, honorary chairman of the Romany Social
Democratic Party, and Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, chairman of the
ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), signed on 24 November an agreement
stipulating that the Romany Social Democratic Party will back the PSD in
the 2004 elections, Radio Free Europe reported. In the 2000 elections,
Madalin Voicu was elected a deputy on the PSD lists.
summary
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VATICAN REPRESENTATIVE BACKS SERVICES IN MAGYAR LANGUAGE FOR THE CSANGO
BUCHAREST � The apostolic nuncio in Bucharest on Tuesday November 25
promised he would grant support to Csango representatives so that in
heir churches services in Magyar language could be held, informs MTI
quoted by Rador. Jean-Claude Perrisset, the apostolic nuncio from
Bucharest, received Csango delegation made up of six members. Tinka
Nyisztor, president of Sfintul Stefan Association in Pustina locality
(Bacau), stated: "Now for the first time we have succeeded in having
sincere dialogue with the apostolic nuncio�, at the same time pointing
out that the Csango felt great satisfaction when the nuncio thanked them
for the fight led for over 10 years in order to have services performed
in their mother language. Jean-Claude Perrisset expressed his conviction
that in all communals from Moldova there should be held religious
services in mother language, as well and they should give up to them
only in case churches are empty when services in Magyar language are
being deployed. The nuncio promised to Csango delegation that he would
send his propositions in a letter to Petru Gherghel, bishop of Iasi, and
a copy of the letter will reach Vatican. As regards the issue of the
official services for the Csango held in their mother language, it was
Marko Bela , UDMR chairman, who made last intervention in Rome in this
respect. The councilor Szatmari Tibor, who submitted the request, was
also received even by Pope John Paul the Second. In the letter, Bela
Marko made reference to Recommendation 1521/2001 of the Parliamentary
Meeting of European Council, where it is mentioned: "There should be
assured the possibility to officiate Romano-Catholic services in the
churches of communals inhabited by the Csango, as well as to create the
possibility for the Csango to sign songs in churches in their mother
language." Most Csango who consider themselves of Magyar origin are of
Roma-Catholic confession, while in terms of administration they belong
to the Catholic Bishopric in Iasi. Petru Gherghel, Roman-Catholic bishop
of Iasi, is of Romanian nationality and so far he has not agreed with
Magyar Csango to be able to hear services in their mother language.
(DIVERS)
summary
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EXTREMIST ROMANIAN LEADER UNDERGOES 'TRANSFIGURATION.'
BUCHAREST - Greater Romania Party (PRM) Chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor
told journalists on 21 November that he is a "philo-Semite" and regrets
having published pamphlets criticizing Jews, Radio Free Europe reported.
He said those pamphlets were "literary polemics which I now regret --
and that is all." Tudor also said that his depiction as an anti-Semite
is "a great injustice, fueled and spread by President Ion Iliescu," and
he accused Iliescu of having displayed an "irresponsible posture"
towards the Holocaust in his interview with the Israeli daily "Ha'aretz"
earlier this year . He also said there is "a great similarity" between
the PRM and Israel: "The former was born out of a journal the xenophobic
weekly "Romania mare", while the latter was born out of a book, which is
the Bible." Tudor ended the press conference by reciting one of the
biblical psalms of King David. Tudor also claimed that the
Iliescu-established international commission for the study of the
Holocaust in Romania amounts to a "propagandistic proposal." Observers
dismiss Tudor's claims as an attempt to mend his international image
ahead of the 2004 presidential elections. (DIVERS)
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FEATURE
ROMA WOMAN DIES FOR KILOS OF COAL
PETROSANI - Olga David, the latest victim of violent attacks on Roma in
Europe died on 14 November after being beaten unconscious by security
guards at a closed Romanian coal mine, Ustiben related. Her "crime" was
to glean 20 kilos of coal to heat her home in an abandoned building in
Petrosani. The Romani Social Democratic Party of Romania, together with
Association Tumende and local groups representing the 3,000 Roma in the
town are calling for immediate protest action around the world. They say
Mrs David, accompanied by her l2-year-old niece, had gone to the
Livezeni mine on 4 November, to collect fuel to heat her home. Like many
Roma in Petrosani, she lived in an old building, lacking heating,
electricity and even water. According to Marcel Rad, president of the
local RSDP branch, guards employed by S.C.Protector International beat
42-year-old Mrs David so badly that she fell to the ground. Her niece
ran away and fetched Mr David. He found his wife laying in the coal
dust. A guard was throwing water over her body saying, "She is joking
... she is okay." Mrs David died ten days later in an intensive care
unit at a Petrosani hospital. Mr Rad and others are demanding the arrest
and prosecution of those responsible. The Trans-European Roma Federation
has told the Romanian Embassy in London that many complaints have been
made against Protector
International. Roma say they have been harassed by security guards from
this company for more than two years. President of Tumende, Cristinela
Ionescu says Protector International has been responsible for a reign of
terror. "The security guards force their way into homes almost every
night," says Ionescu. "During these raids, there is a lot of violence
and verbal abuse."
Among a score of killings in Romania over recent years, at least a dozen
have involved police officers and security guards, according to
documentation provided by the European Roma Rights Centre in Budapest.
During the numerous pogroms against Romani communities in Romania since
l989, at least 450 homes have been burnt, a Human Rights Watch report
says. It has been announced from Petrosani that all those who have died
in Romania and across Europe will be remembered and mourned during the
Romani national "Commemoration of Victims" taking place on Sunday 1
August 2004 in some 50 towns and cities around the globe.
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