Room for Manoeuvre – Szeklerland’s Autonomy
Room for Manoeuvre – Szeklerland’s Autonomy

Summary/Abstract: “In the realm of the political advocacy and civil community having evolved over the past decade, autonomy seems to be a common denominator: a programme-like dedication to a national political goal. However, this autonomy has also been a constant matter of political negotiations and reconciliations on the one hand as well as, more recently, a source of disputes about implementation and feasibility. By now, it has become the wager of a falsely generated political rivalry, a wager that certain politicians are ready to put at stake for the sake of rhetoric, propaganda and profit, even if they make no secret of their conviction that they are fighting a losing battle” (Varga 2004). In my view, the above opinion expressed by Attila Varga (then representative, now university professor and judge in the Constitutional Court) about autonomy 12 years ago is still valid and worthy of consideration even today – which puts me into a difficult position. When I accepted Gyôzô Cholnoky’s request to write a paper about Szeklerland’s autonomy for Minority Studies, I was driven by my commitment to the cause. There is a lot to say about autonomy, and I share the editor’s conviction that it is important to examine the origin as well as the historical roots of the Szekler autonomy. It is equally important to study the failed attempts of Hungarian autonomy in the 20th century along with present-day conceptions and the international context. But most importantly: apart from public discourse, is the cause of autonomy going anywhere, and in what political context must this cause be promoted? Despite the fact that since Attila Varga’s above cited study was written in 2004, and there have been significant changes in the Hungarian political arena in Romania, the situation of autonomy has changed only in one respect: now we have some politically exposed people who advocate the cause of autonomy with dedication and consistency.

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