Minority Rights, Propaganda and Fallen Soldiers - Report from Uzhhorod

Both locally and in the Hungarian press, Transcarpathia is fondly referred to as an island of peace. The county has been largely spared the war so far, although there was a Russian drone attack near Mukachevo in mid-November 2024, and then two more in December that year, when two missiles were intercepted by the 101st Territorial Defence Brigade of Transcarpathia. But this is almost nothing, compared to other regions of the country. That is if you disregard the mobilisation, the situation of the separated and grieving families, the continuing lack of electricity, the war depression and the exodus, both inward and outward.

A war of numbers about Hungarians

Officially 350,000 internally displaced persons have arrived in Transcarpathia from the east of Ukraine, but in reality there are even more, many of whom are not registered with the authorities. Uzhhorod is a top destination, with most companies relocating here, therefore the city's population has at least doubled in two years and might now be well over 200,000.

This tendency in itself reduces the proportion of Hungarians, which was around 10% in Transcarpathia before 2022. Most probably, the proportion of Hungarians leaving the country was higher than that of the majority population, but estimates of how many have stayed vary widely. Of the 120-130,000 people before the war, the more optimistic estimate is that perhaps 100,000 remained, while others put the number at 70-80,000.

"The situation is not as tragic as we usually see it"

- said Sándor Spenik at a forum organized in Uzhhorod early December last year. The director of the Ukrainian-Hungarian Institute of the University of Uzhhorod cited recent school enrolment figures when referring to the Hungarian demographic situation. According to these data, in 2024 there were 4,000 fewer children - 13,700 - enrolled in Hungarian-language classes than before the war. In terms of ratios, however, this represents only a slight, 8.8% drop, instead of the previous 10.5%. The bigger problem, according to Spenik, is that the number of students enrolled in Ukrainian-language higher education has fallen by a third in the last ten years, which may also indicate that many young people no longer see their future in Ukraine.

This forum in Uzhhorod brought together the Transcarpathian Hungarian elite, including the heads of local political organisations, church leaders, the directors of educational and cultural institutions, as well as the shapers of minority policy in Kiev. The organisers were the office responsible for minority policy belonging to the Ukrainian Prime Minister’s Cabinet and the Transcarpathian County Military Administration. Similar meetings are now being held about other minorities in Ukraine. These events might seem a bit forced, a certain kind of political ritual towards the European Commission, but at least they exist: in the past, there was no real channel for minorities to actually discuss the laws governing their lives.

Protestant prayers in Ukrainian

Now that the discussions on Ukraine's EU accession process are ongoing, and these talks include minority rights, there is greater openness. It might be a small step, but this shift in attitudes is also indicated by the fact that several Hungarians received "presidential medals for the defence of Ukraine" or certificates of gratitude at the event. Moreover, Bishop Sándor Zán Fábián of the Reformed Church of Transcarpathia, said his blessing in Ukrainian as well, which can be considered to be a part of the gesture policy, given that he is the head of a completely Hungarian-speaking diocese. After the joint prayer, there was a minute of silence, with a giant candle projected in the background and a clock ticking in memory of the victims. "Slava Ukraini, Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the heroes!" - was the cue of almost all the speakers, followed by the quiet response of the audience.

PHOTO: KolozsiKaufmann4 - "Defending the common home: the Hungarian national minority in the protection and development of Ukraine" forum audience in Uzhhorod

This is a time for gestures, with the delegates from Kiev also stressing that the sons of Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and other nationalities have been fighting together with the Ukrainians against the aggressor since 2014. "Dialogue and tolerance will lead us to the EU," said Yulia Grishina, a representative of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People, at the forum, in harmony with the Ukrainian slogan "Unity in Diversity", which was adopted from the EU’s official motto.

Old complaints, new demands

After Ukraine started to radically curtail nationality rights in 2017, the turnaround came in the summer of 2022, when the country was granted EU candidate status. In order to be able to start accession negotiations, the Ukrainian legislature adopted a series of amendments to the law’s affecting nationalities in December 2023, including the Hungarian government's demand that Ukraine's integration could only be supported if it did not restrict the native language rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia.

The fact that the Hungarian government is still reluctant to acknowledge positive changes is the other side of the coin. The most spectacular episode of this was when, at the EU summit, Orbán went out for a coffee during the vote on Ukraine's accession - so he didn't block the decision, but he didn't have to admit that there was progress on rights. The Hungarian government has kept the issue on the agenda ever since. In January 2024, Péter Szijjártó handed over a new 11-point package of demands on the rights of the Hungarian minority, and Viktor Orbán also used this as an excuse to go to Kiev in July. At that time he did not want to tell the Ukrainians yet that he was actually on a 'peace mission' and was on his way to meet with Putin.

László Vida, the first official at the Consulate General of Hungary in Uzhhorod, said at this event in Uzhhorod that the Hungarian government was paying close attention to the situation of the minority in Transcarpathia and although the 2023 compromises were promising, the questions raised by the Hungarian side weren’t fully answered yet. "It is a cause for confidence that pragmatic dialogue has been launched at the highest level", he said, adding that Levente Magyar, a state secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was then holding talks in Transcarpathia. Vida did not mention the fact that Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was in Moscow for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at the time of the forum. This is a usual division of labour in Hungarian diplomacy: while Szijjártó makes a series of friendly gestures to the Kremlin, Levente Magyar regularly visits Transcarpathia, and the Consulate General has good local Ukrainian connections.

The Hungarian government is using the minority issue as a pretext against Ukraine, playing for time and playing a diversionary game, Csilla Fedinec summed up in our interview with her in July. The Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia is in a particularly delicate political situation. They are invoked by Hungarian foreign policy in its actions against Kiev, and although they have asked Orbán in vain to support Ukraine's EU accession, they could easily be the targets and scapegoats of the Hungarian government's position in the war.

The vulnerability of minorities

The Transcarpathian Hungarian minority cannot face Budapest head-on: they are a community of barely 100,000, vulnerable from many directions and heavily dependent financially on Hungarian aid. Their largest organisation, the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (THCA), is an official partner organisation of Fidesz, and its formal leader, László Brenzovics, has been living in quasi-emigration in Budapest for years.

"There is a negative echo throughout the Carpathian Basin that the end of the Transcarpathian Hungarians is in sight. This is absolutely not true, because even among the young people who have left, 80 percent plan to come back as soon as the war is over," says István Dobsa, when we sit down to talk at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium’s (MCC) headquarters in Berehove. He is the president of the youth organisation of the THCA, while his wife, Beáta Dobsa, runs the MCC's local training centre. From Budapest, this may look like a local base for Fidesz, but they emphasize that the local MCC or the THCA is not a branch of the Hungarian governing party across the border, but a niche community organiser and talent manager that specifically aims to strengthen and safeguard the option of staying.

"I dare to hope that we still scratch the 100,000 mark here at home. But every cloud has a silver lining, so this war has taught us what we have, what we have to lose and where we should be headed. There was also a lot of division in the local Hungarian society, but now everyone is trying to listen to each other and help each other," says István Dobsa.

"We are trying to separate this from the politics in the mainland, because here in Transcarpathia, the small Hungarian community may not have to run the same political circles as the ones in Hungary. We must try to unite in a way that will allow the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia to survive in the long run."

Many say that since the Russian invasion in 2022, the "hatchet has been buried" between the THCA and the Hungarian Democratic Federation in Ukraine (HDFU). This might not entirely be true, but as far as minority rights are concerned, the two local Hungarian political forces are acting in a coordinated manner, formulating joint criticisms and proposals. From the outside, it seems as if a spontaneous division of labour has developed among Hungarian politicians of Transcarpathia: they are taking advantage of the fact that the THCA has better contacts in Budapest, while the HDFU has better contacts in Kiev.

At the beginning of 2024, an advisory council on nationalities was established in Ukraine, where László Zubánics, President of the HDFU, is a member representing Hungarians. He collects and represents the views and proposals of Hungarian organisations in Kiev on minority legislation and shortcomings. "The fact that Kiev is now at least gathering information about the needs of the national minorities is a significant step forward, and this could even lead to positive developments," says Zubánics, who welcomes the idea of forums like the one in Uzhhorod. At last there is a meaningful dialogue - even if the Kiev authorities do not wait for all the Hungarian contributions.

"I said from the very beginning that people must separate themselves from what is being said in Budapest and what is being said in Kiev, and we must say here and now what is meaningful or possible. If you constantly pay attention to both sides, sooner or later you get into a state of split consciousness." - says Zubánics, when asked how much room for manoeuvre is left for minority policy in Transcarpathia.

This duality and separation from the Ukrainian majority society is also reflected in the field of information: the HDFU chairman believes that the Ukrainians do not pay enough attention to providing any information to the rural areas with Hungarian minorities; in Transcarpathia, there is even no transmitter to make Ukrainian public television available.

"Most people don't even know whether there were fights in Kiev or not. They don't really know what's going on or don't care anymore. Anyone who doesn't inform themselves from multiple news sources will be trapped in an information bubble, believing only what they hear on, let’s say, Kossuth Radio."

Speaking Hungarian in schools

According to Mr Zubánics, Ukraine has, to a large extent, implemented the recommendations made by the various Council of Europe bodies, however there are many things that are in the Ukrainian constitution, but are not yet implemented in practice, or the various laws contradict each other.

Such an example is the issue of the advanced exams for high-school graduation, where it has been promised that it will also be possible to take the examination in national languages in the future, which is particularly important for Hungarian students because of their poorer knowledge of Ukrainian. However, a rule in the final provision of the Ukrainian language law, that would only allow this only until 2030, has not yet been amended.

Education is the area where most progress has been made in the past year. Ukraine had previously abolished minority schools, leaving only partially minority-language classes, with fewer and fewer classes in the upper grades. This has now been reversed, but the situation is still not entirely reassuring for Hungarians: for example, there is an individual motion on the agenda in parliament about classes being held in the minority language, but making the use of Ukrainian compulsory between classes, during breaks, in specialised classes, on the notice board and among teachers and students in general.

Albina Cjatkovska, representing the Kyiv Ministry of Education, reassured in Uzhhorod that the ministry has already written to schools that they cannot restrict minority language use anywhere, but Hungarians would prefer these issues to be regulated at a higher level, not by easily changeable ministerial or executive decrees and instructions, but by law. Some are also concerned that the Ukrainian government does not have full control over the legislature, not to mention that no one can predict what political changes might take place in Ukraine even in a few months' time.

Representatives of the Hungarian minority closest to Fidesz emphasise the dangers in their rhetoric. Ildikó Orosz, president of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Pedagogical Association, the informally most influential leader of the THCA, also spoke at the aforementioned forum in Uzhhorod, stating that there are seriously discriminatory rules against people belonging to minorities and that if there are no further fundamental changes, education in the mother tongue will be destroyed.

Even the Hungarian organisations acknowledge the progress that has been made, and the fact that Ukraine has largely implemented the recommendations made by the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission. However, while the Ukrainians stress that everything is already on track, they highlight a number of shortcomings and internal inconsistencies in the regulations.

"Thanks to the framework, we are much closer to European standards, and the ministry has taken many steps to protect language rights and national identity," said Lyudmila Mazuka, a researcher of minorities at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She criticized the Hungarian government on some accounts, but also highlighted that thanks to regular consultations, progress has been made in bilateral relations.

"Hungary is using this issue to block military aid to Ukraine and its accession to the EU and NATO. The admission of Ukrainian refugees is a good basis, but the minority issue should not be used in internal political fights," he said.

Hungarian minority representatives deny that they are agents of the Hungarian government, let alone not loyal enough to Ukraine. "I always say that we are a resource for the Ukrainian state rather than a national security risk. We also cannot be a risk because there are so few of us. While the Ukrainian nationalists want to portray Hungarians as devils, we want to show that there is no basis for this: we have the utmost respect for the laws of Ukraine, we strive to learn the state language and we only ask the state to respect the rights of nationalities, as enshrined in the Ukrainian Constitution adopted in 1996. We have no additional requests," says Istvan Dobsa.

National symbols

One of the Hungarian demands is cultural (not territorial) autonomy, which was not granted before, and this is now the symbolic point at the centre of Hungarian demands. "We Hungarians have proven many times that we love Ukraine as much as any other citizen, our young people gave their lives for the country - autonomy must be introduced into the law", said József Rezes from the THCA in Uzhhorod.

According to László Zubánics, the framework of cultural self-determination could regulate a lot of things. There was a draft for this twenty years ago, which was not finally adopted, but it echoed the system applied in Vojvodina, where the Hungarian National Council is given certain competences, but is operating independently from the territorially based local governments. However, there is no Ukrainian promise to do this now either, and they do not like the word autonomy very much. "Of course, Hungarian autonomy cannot be the goal, instead political and economic integration and good inter-ethnic relations are the key," said Lyudmila Mazuka, the Ukrainian researcher of minorities.

The question of national symbols is another territory where Hungarians want stronger legal guarantees. Their use is now essentially unregulated. Although the huge Hungarian flag, the same size as the Ukrainian and the EU flags, flies on the community centre of Berehove, as previously the question of banning its display in public places has arisen before, it would be good to strengthen its rights.

The situation is similar with street name signs. The municipality may display them in a minority language, but there is no legal obligation to do so, so if the old sign gets damaged, the new one will often be monolingual, even if only due to economic reasons. Municipal signs are also often missing in the national language. These are now usually only written in Latin letters and transcribed into English, so for example below the Cyrillic version of "Munkács" only Mukachevo is written and nothing in Hungarian.