PMP's Pascan: Hungary, trying to stir up new inter-ethnic tensions in Romania

The Executive Chairman of the People's Movement Party (PMP), MP Marius Pascan, says that, in the pre-election campaign for the presidential elections, Hungary is allegedly trying to stir up new inter-ethnic tensions in Romania in order to mobilize the Hungarian electorate to support the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) and that it is necessary to wisely avoid the provocations, close to the centenary of the Trianon Treaty. 

"In full pre-election campaign for the presidential elections, Hungary is trying to stir up new inter-ethnic tensions in Romania, in order to mobilize the Hungarian electorate in support of the UDMR. On 2 October, Hungary submitted a request to the Council of Europe, on the subject of the alleged occupation of the international cemetery of heroes in Valea Uzului, by the local authorities in Darmanesti, requesting the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to draw up a report in this case. The request includes the misinformation launched by the leader of the UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, according to which the monument located in the memory of the Romanian heroes from the Bacau County necropolis would contain a legionary symbol. A big lie, because the Valea Uzului symbols, claimed by the UDMR leader as legionary, are in fact Celtic crosses, as the Eli Wiesel National Institute for Holocaust Study has pronounced," Marius Pascan said in a press release at Targu Mures. 

According to him, in reality, the Council of Europe does not have powers or competence in the field of military cemeteries. 

"Budapest, however, is forcing the international amplification of an internal problem of Romania, which is directly related to the internal politics of each state. In parallel, the Hungarian side refuses and boycotts any attempts to dialogue on this subject by Romania. As a matter of fact, the Hungarian approach is aimed at shifting a litigious problem, of an administrative nature, into a conflict of an ethnic nature, corresponding to the gradual increase of pressure in the context of next year's marking of the centenary of the Trianon Treaty," said Marius Pascan. 

The PMP leader said that on the website of the National Office for Honoring Heroes (ONCE), there is unquestionable evidence of the existence of Romanian heroes in the necropolis of Valea Uzului, where 11 Romanian soldiers are buried, eight of whom are identified by name, and three anonymous. 

"In 1934, there were 1,254 wooden crosses in the cemetery, with metal plates with the following inscription: 'Romanian hero', 'Hungarian hero', 'German hero' etc. Until the end of World War II, over 1,300 soldiers, fallen in both wars, were buried in the necropolis. The Romanian side was constantly open to dialogue, in order to identify, in a constructive and balanced manner, practical solutions that could be accepted by the entire community, Romanian and Hungarian. However, the Hungarian side made a series of public statements, disseminating false information about the issues discussed," said Pascan.