MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No. 68
MINELRES moderator
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Tue Sep 2 11:39:35 2003
Original sender: Divers Bulletin <[email protected]>
No. 68/ September 1, 2003
DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -
SUMMARY
1. PROETNICA 2003 � A CELEBRATION OF JOY
2. MANY DISCONTENTS OF UDMR IN RELATION WITH PSD
3. UDMR's AMENDMENT ON THE CHARACTER OF ROMANIAN STATE HAS BEEN REJECTED
4. ROMANIAN SCIENTIST �SENTENCED� POST MORTEM FOR ANTI-SEMITISM
5. ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES ISRAELI NEWSPAPER OF FRAUD
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PROETNICA 2003 � A CELEBRATION OF JOY
SIGHISOARA - This year�s festival of ethnical minorities in Romania
stood again for an occasion to enjoy being together by the
representatives of the 16 communities gathered in Sighisoara (central
Romania) for three days at the end of August. �Imagine the ethnic
Hungarian people dancing around the scene in background of Jewish music
sung by B�nei Milu chorus, Croatian and Tartars dancing on German music,
as if they were at a rustic party�, explained Adrian Ivanitchi, media
referent at the Educational Youth Interethnic Center Sighisoara, one of
the organizers of the event. The various program of the festival
consisted of music, dance, theater, book exhibitions and craftsmen
stands. According to Ivanitchi, the participants applauded one another,
told stories, laughed, sang karaoke together and got to know one other
better, which, as the organizers deem, it is the most important thing.
The program held in Sighisoara fortress was deployed from 10 a.m. until
7 p.m., while during the night the dance and music lasted to a late
hour, respectively 1 a.m. Italian bands �Il Levante� and �Alegria� had a
great success, as well as the Hellenic �Elips�, the Russian and the
Serbian ones, the latter one presenting a program of soloists and
musical bands. �All the bands had success because all of them had
something original, not to mention it was not about competition. Though
amateurs, they presented themselves as professional�, also said Adrian
Ivanitchi. The audience�s participation was estimated around figure of
two-three thousand persons at the daytime festival, and of approximately
ten thousand persons at the evening concerts. (DIVERS)
summary
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MANY DISCONTENTS OF UDMR IN RELATION WITH PSD
BUCHAREST � The Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR)
leadership plans to have talks with ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD)
in short time upon the issue of Liberty statue from Arad and about the
bilingual plates posted in railway stations, stated in a press
conference UDMR chairman Marko Bela.
He pointed out that, few months ago, UDMR sent the Ministry of
Transportation a list enclosing CFR stations fulfilling the terms to be
installed the bilingual plates, yet no measure has been taken in this
respect. The UDMR leader mentioned that there exist over 1, 000
localities with over 20% Magyar population. As for the re-positioning of
Liberty Statue in Arad, Marko Bela proved dissatisfied that the Ministry
of Culture is blocking this process. "It is an absurd situation when in
Arad exists certain agreement regarding the position of Liberty Statue
and, at present, some interventions are sought to be applied from
Bucharest or Ministry of Culture in order to slow down or block this
process ", said UDMR chairman, adding that the Union does not agree with
blocking "an extremely important reconciliation gesture ". (DIVERS)
summary
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UDMR's AMENDMENT ON THE CHARACTER OF ROMANIAN STATE HAS BEEN REJECTED
BUCHAREST - Senators have ruled on August 26 over the first article from
the draft of Romanian Constitution, establishing that "Romania is a
national state, sovereign and independent, united and indivisible", thus
rejecting with a wide majority an amendment pushed by UDMR that
eliminated the "national state" words from the article. Only 14 senators
voted for the wording proposed by UDMR, other 109 opting for maintaining
of the "national state" sentence. UDMR's proposed sentence was "a
sovereign and independent state, united and indivisible". UDMR's
proposal was not endorsed by any other party. (DIVERS)
summary
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ROMANIAN SCIENTIST �SENTENCED� POST MORTEM FOR ANTI-SEMITISM
PARIS � The inauguration of a commemorative plate and posting busts of
two pioneers in diabetes research, French Etienne Lancereaux (1827-1910)
and Romanian Nicolae Paulescu (1869-1931), were announced to be a
redress of an injustice. According to �Le Monde� newspaper, it was
planned for professor Paulescu, the inventor of insulin, whose active
cooperation with the French scientists triggered in April 1922 Romanian
patent for a scientific procedure subsequently allowing to obtain
insulin. It is about a redress of an injustice, because such a discovery
brought in 1923 the Nobel Prize for medicine to Canadian Frederick
Banting. Scheduled to take place on August 27, at Hotel-Dieu, the famous
Parisian hospital, the ceremony was canceled in extremis by the
accusation that Nicolae Paulescu would had been an anti-Semite and his
commemoration from Paris would have been accounted negatively. Under
these circumstances, the participation of some Romanian officials to a
tribute paid to Nicolae Paulescu would have stirred out the polemics.
(DIVERS)
summary
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ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES ISRAELI NEWSPAPER OF FRAUD
BUCHAREST - Romanian President Ion Iliescu last week lashed out at an
Israeli newspaper, saying it committed fraud when it quoted him as
saying the Holocaust was not unique to the Jews, AP reported. Iliescu
was quoted by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as saying that "the
Holocaust was not unique to the Jewish population in Europe. Many
others, including Poles, died in the same way." The interview was
published in July. The comments outraged the Israeli government, which
protested to Romania.
Iliescu responded with a letter to Israeli President Moshe Katzav,
saying he had never meant to downplay Jewish suffering during the Nazi
era with his comments. But some Romanian historians continued
criticizing Iliescu for the remarks, and Sunday, an official in the
Romanian opposition Democratic Party called for Parliament to sanction
Iliescu.
Emil Boc, the party's deputy leader, said he would try to have the
president suspended. Such a move would be unlikely to succeed as the
ruling party dominates parliament. In response, the president's press
office Tuesday issued a statement accusing the newspaper of
intentionally distorting the interview. The statement said Iliescu had
been "firm and consistent" in his comments about "the Holocaust and the
Jewish tragedy."
The paper called the accusations "ridiculous and baseless. We have
published his exact words in the interview and we have the tapes to
prove it." The presidential statement also accused the newspaper of
ignoring Iliescu's request to see a translation of the interview and of
"deforming the position expressed by the president, by both condensing
the text and the translation."
"In this way, the newspaper committed a fraud, publishing a text that
was cooked up in the newsroom, which was not approved by the one who was
interviewed, deforming what he said," the statement said. Haaretz said
there was no "condition to send the interview to be approved before it
was published."
Iliescu's statement also argued the interview had "fed suspicions,"
between the countries and had "stimulated anti-Semitic elements and
sentiments." Romania's traditionally good ties to Israel were strained
in June over the government's claim that there was no Holocaust inside
Romania's borders. Romania was a Germany ally during most of World War
II. Israel and Romania's Jewish community protested, and the government
eventually acknowledged that Romania's wartime leaders deported and
killed Jews.
summary
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