Hungarian "Free" Press: Szeklers NOT Hungarians???

[Turul Karom]

It's no secret that Hungary is a bit of an "underdog" on the EU and Anglosphere political scene, and that it gets some rough treatment in the media. But sometimes, there shines an article or "news" organization with such hilarious bias and lack of self-awareness that one needs to wonder just who buys into their garbage at all. One such website is the English language Hungarian Free Press (HFP).

The Hungarian "Free" Press is not run for Hungarians. It is published to be an anti-Hungarian smear rag and in English so that non-Hungarians have better access to it who are bilingual English speakers.

They aggressively police articles and comments, and you are now not allowed to even comment unless moderated to do so if you ask difficult questions; even slightly truthful comments with facts are either quickly removed by publishers or otherwise not allowed at all. Several contributors are non-Hungarians or even are expatriated Hungarians who dislike Hungary. They only allow criticism they can easily refute or criticism that makes them look like victims, not critiques that expose their lies. They say Hungary is a hellish police state of controlled media, while operating the exact way that they claim to dislike while using literally fake news.

Perhaps the most inexcusable is how the H"F"P even says Szeklers are not Hungarians, lolol. When I corrected them with Romanian census data and asked the author why he would even bother posting such contradictory things, I was blocked. I even emailed them politely for a personal reply, with no response. See the article and my removed reply below.

http://hungarianfreepress.com/2018/0...est-disagrees/

Recently the Hungarian Academy of Sciences issued the statement: The dominant historical, archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic standpoints consider the Szeklers to be an integral part of the modern Hungarian nation in ethno-cultural terms.

This is the latest in an ongoing debate about the Szeklers (Székelyek in Hungarian).

In February 2013 demonstrators appeared in front of the Hungarian Consulate in the Romanian city of Cluj (Kolozsvár in Hungarian). They carried a sign which read „Szeklers are not Hungarians.”

According to the Orbán Government there are 1.2-million citizens identified as “Hungarians” in Romania and about half of them are ethnically Szekler. Szeklers live far from the Hungarian border in the middle of Romania, an area called Szeklerland covering three Romanian counties (Mureş, Harghita and Covasna).

Szeklers speak Hungarian, although today most of them are bi-lingual, and they maintain a strong and distinct community identity. Some say that Szeklers and Hungarians are separate nations, similar to the Germans and Austrians who have common German roots and language, yet are separate nations. Others state that Szeklers are “Hungarians” and no further discussion is needed.

During the Communist era, between 1952 and 1968, there was an autonomous region in Romania at the area of Szeklerland called Magyar Autonomous Region, with Târgu-Mureș (Marosvásárhely) as capital.

A new wrinkle in the Szekler debate is that Mr. Mihály András, of the Szeklers’ World Alliance (Székelyek Világszövetsége) has initiated a petition to declare that Szeklers who live within the borders of Hungary constitute an independent ethnic group. These are Szeklers who migrated to Hungary from Szeklerland and now demand minority status in Hungary. The petition was rejected.

According to Hungary’s National Election Committee there are currently thirteen ethnic groups that meet the legal criteria. The Szeklers do not satisfy all requirements including, residing in the current territory of Hungary for at least 100 years, and having their own language.

To complicate the issue there is another tiny Hungarian speaking ethnic group in Romania, the Csangos. Without the Szeklers and the Csangos, the Hungarian minority would be only 600,000, far from the 1.2 million number.

Hungary’s policy is based on the idea that the nation is a 15-million strong “world nation.” Ten-million within the borders, 2.5-million outside Hungary within the Carpathian basin. Another 2.5 million is the Diaspora, e.g. in North America. People with Hungarian heritage in the Carpathian basin and the Diaspora are called “Hungarians” and they are part of the “Hungarian nation body.”

I have reservations about the “world nation” concept and question the validity of these numbers. The total number of Hungarians both in the Carpathian basin and in the Diaspora is significantly lower. The Hungarian world nation is probably about 12-million strong.

Obviously the Szeklers and Csangos in Romania should decide for themselves whether they want to be identified as Hungarians and be included in the “Hungarian nation body.” The Academy in Budapest shouldn’t issue ill-timed proclamations on this touchy and very political issue.

As a Hungarian American I am a bit annoyed that the Orbán government calls us “Hungarians.” In North America we are Canadians and Americans, proud of our Hungarian roots and heritage, and few of us endorse Hungary’s current “nation policy.” It would be more appropriate to call us Americans and Canadians of Hungarian origin.

György Lázár

[Universe]

Quote from the article:

In February 2013 demonstrators appeared in front of the Hungarian Consulate in the Romanian city of Cluj (Kolozsvár in Hungarian). They carried a sign which read „Szeklers are not Hungarians.”

He deliberately doesn't mention the people who carried the sign were Romanian nationalists(they're holding Romanian flags), not the Hungarian minority of Romania to mislead the reader. He tries to create the impression in the reader's mind that the hungarians in Romania reject the hungarian identity and that is forced on them by Budapest, which is not the case.

[Jana]

Fascist malicious site.
99 percent of Szekely declare as Magyars and on average they are much more nationalistic than Hungarians from Hungary, due to historic reasons.

I find this article insult to my husband Szekely family and all other Szeklers who preserved their Hungarian identity and culture against all odds trough centuries.

[Universe]

Obviously the Szeklers and Csangos in Romania should decide for themselves whether they want to be identified as Hungarians and be included in the “Hungarian nation body.” The Academy in Budapest shouldn’t issue ill-timed proclamations on this touchy and very political issue.

They already decided for themselves: they identify as Hungarian.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences is actually known for being opposed to the hungarian government, yet the article tries to link it to the nationalistic government, making it look like the Academy is comprised of biased nationalists or something, which is not the case. The academy is rather left leaning if I had to make a case.

The author of the article is an intellectually dishonest moron, which is baffling given he earned a Phd. I'd like to slap him. Especially for misrepresenting a picture Romanian nationalists as Székelys who refuse the hungarian identity.

He's also ridiculous for rejecting being called a Hungarian by the hungarian government, but at the same time he writes idiotic propaganda articles on "Hungarian free press" about hungarian issues.

As a Hungarian American I am a bit annoyed that the Orbán government calls us “Hungarians.” In North America we are Canadians and Americans, proud of our Hungarian roots and heritage, and few of us endorse Hungary’s current “nation policy.” It would be more appropriate to call us Americans and Canadians of Hungarian origin.

[Blondie]

I've never seen such bullshit like this. It's worse than some romanian ultra nationalist publication

[Turul Karom]

Quote from the article:
He deliberately doesn't mention the people who carried the sign were Romanian nationalists(they're holding Romanian flags), not the Hungarian minority of Romania to mislead the reader. He tries to create the impression in the reader's mind that the hungarians in Romania reject the hungarian identity and that is forced on them by Budapest, which is not the case.

It's because despite supposedly being a "Hungarian", the author seems to have zero investigative ability and has no idea of irony when he uses his own Hungarian background as to why he should be listened to. It's as if he hates himself/Hungarians or otherwise has some vendetta against keeping in contact with Hungarians abroad.

The website on the banner that was being carried by the Romanian nationalists is defunct as well. I looked for an archive of it in both English and Hungarian and found nothing. It was probably just more propaganda.

Fascist malicious site.
99 percent of Szekely declare as Magyars and on average they are much more nationalistic than Hungarians from Hungary, due to historic reasons.

I find this article insult to my husband Szekely family and all other Szeklers who preserved their Hungarian identity and culture against all odds trough centuries.

I can sympathize; my mother's side is Szekler and my grandmother hand makes Transylvanian embroideries and crochets to this day which she gives away for free. I have helped her ship them all over the world. She is 90 years old and saw firsthand issues regarding persecutions of Hungarians.

They already decided for themselves: they identify as Hungarian.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences is actually known for being opposed to the hungarian government, yet the article tries to link it to the nationalistic government, making it look like the Academy is comprised of biased nationalists or something, which is not the case. The academy is rather left leaning if I had to make a case.

The author of the article is an intellectually dishonest moron, which is baffling given he earned a Phd. I'd like to slap him. Especially for misrepresenting a picture Romanian nationalists as Székelys who refuse the hungarian identity.

He's also ridiculous for rejecting being called a Hungarian by the hungarian government, but at the same time he writes idiotic propaganda articles on "Hungarian free press" about hungarian issues.

Exactly. I tried to get in contact with these HFP buffoons, but nobody responds to even polite, non-aggressive inquiries.

I've never seen such bullshit like this. It's worse than some romanian ultra nationalist publication

I have seen even more; the Anglosphere news organizations who cooperate with several western and EU equivalents routinely show Hungary and Hungarians in a negative light. The Hungarian Free Press website is a propaganda vehicle for non-Hungarians to "learn" about how terrible Hungary is, and it is only one of several English-focused sites dedicated to smearing the Hungarian national identity by roping it to everything negative possible. Some of the articles sound downright conspiratorial and delusional, but because they come from an NGO-sympathizing source, then the anti-Hungarian sites get the green light to propagandize the west.