The antecedents

On 6 November 2007 Katalin Szili, Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament welcomed the delegation of the advocacy association of the Hungarians living in Moldova, the Association of Csango-Hungarians (MCSMSZ) and its Hungarian patrons, the Foundation for Moldovan Hungarian Education (AMMOA) and the Association of Grandparents for the Moldovan Csango-Hungarians (KEMCSE). The most important issues, concerning Hungarian education on Csangoland at the meeting were discussed. This time the Speaker of the Parliament was also invited to visit Csangoland in order to take a closer look at our activities and the Moldovan Csango-Hungarian villages.
It also occured during the preparations that the traditional biannual meeting of Szili Katalin and Bogdan Olteanu could also take place this time. Consequently, the meeting of the two Speakers of the Parliament took place in Bacau on 11 April 2008, just as well the visit of the Hungarian Parliamentary delegation.
This event has great importance in two aspects of the Csango issues.
Bogdan Olteanu, Speaker of the Romanian House of Commons legitimised our pursuits at the meeting, and through his personal experiences during his visit to Lespezi (Lészped) and his talks with the leaders of the MCSMSZ he confirmed: that he supports the requests of the Csango-Hungarians and their advocacy association regarding Hungarian education and Hungarian mass.
The other important diplomatic premiere of the day is that during the long history there has not yet been a high Hungarian State Official to Csangoland (maybe last time it was Béla IV., still as a price). So, the presence of the Hungarian Parliamentary delegation has also a message for us and the local political issues: the Parliament of the Hungarian Republic takes the issues of the Moldovan Csangos into its own hands.

Visit to the Dormitory of Csango students at Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda)

Before coming to Csangoland, Katalin Szili visited the Moldovan Csango students at Miercurea Ciuc.
The visit was preceded by thorough preparation, not only by the children, but also by the dormitory, which is the property of the city. The most visible maintenance issues were fixed in the last moment. Our guests have also remarked that the odour of the fresh white wash was to be smelt.
After the students and their teachers welcomed the high rank guests with flowers at the entrance, the leader of the delegation knocked at the door of the first room and asked the girls living there about issues such as: how long they have been studying in Hungarian, which school they were studying at, from which village they were from and there were also questions about their families and their future plans.
Thereafter the large delegation tried to fit into the teacher's room of the dormitory without success. (Unfortunately, the dormitory does not have any other community room.) Éva Ferencz gave an account of the current situation: 58 Moldovan children are studying at Miercuera Ciuc in this school year, out of which 10 will take final exams this year. The MCSMSZ covers the meals and the dormitory costs of the students, and it also employs a Hungarian and a Mathematics teacher, who tutor the children. In addition the Association also pays the salary of two additional teachers. We said that from the autumn on much more children would like to study there than the number of the graduates, since their number is already more than the available places. When the delegation asked the deputy mayor about the solutions, he said that the campus-program won by the city may offer a long term solution, but he could not say anything promising regarding the near future.
After this the students gave their present to Katalin Szili: it was a little carved box made by one of the students and there was a thread of beads inside made by the girls and a book by Felicia Gábor, a former graduate in Miercuera Ciuc. The dormitory received a DVD player, some films and a package of books from the guests. After the meeting the students' performance was to be seen, while home made milk-loaf was offered to the guests.

The Bacau Meeting

Katalin Szili was welcomed at the building of the Bacau Prefecture by Mr. Claudiu Serban and Mr. Bogdan Olteanu, Speaker of the Romanian House of Commons. The large Hungarian delagation and the hosts had a one hour meeting in the hall of the Prefecture. Members of the delegation lead by Katalin Szili, Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament were the following MPs: Lajosné Botka and József Alajos Géczi socialists, Ilona Ékes and Dénes Gulyás from FIDESZ, Rózsa Hoffmann Christian Democrate, and Klára Sándor Liberal Democrate. The following Romanian members were present: Ionel Palar and Silviu Lefter liberals, Olguta Cocrea independent, Minodora Cliveti social democrate and Radu Catalin Mardare senator (PSD). The following officials were also present: Gabriel Berca, current secretary-general (formerly the Prefect of Bacau County), and Romeo Stavarache mayor of Bacau County. Bogdan Olteanut was accompanied by Hunor Kelemen MP (RMDSZ), who took part not only in the official programs, but also in the afternoon visits. The Hungarian Embassy in Bucarest was represented by Mr. János Terényi Ambassador, Mr. Tibor Hodicska and Dr. Béla Szabó Consuls and several other diplomats.
During the meeting held behind closed doors the followings were mentioned: realisaion of the issues described in the Lisbon Contract, further possibilities of the bilateral cooperation, and just as well the minority and human right questions, especially the teaching of the minority languages. It was also expressed that both Parliaments support the EU accession of Croatia. The parties agreed that they mutually support such efforts of the minorities in both countries. Katalin Szili promised to the Romanian partners that she will personally supervise the issue that study books would be provided for the Hungarian Romanian education. Bogdan Olteanu suggested to the guests that the Moldovan Csangos write to the Vatican with their request for mass in their own mother tongue. They clarified that they will support the cultural efforts of the minorities within the framework of the EU, and they will offer governmental help in the preservation and expression their identity.
At the press release following the meeting Bogdan Olteanu declared that it seems natural and supportable to him to introduce Hungarian language into the education, if this is requested. He added the more languages one can speak, the easier he can find a well-paid job. One of the local journalists mentioned that there are civil organisations that encourage parents to send their children to paid Hungarian lessons. Katalin Szili's short answer was that she did not know of such organisations. Bogdan Olteanu added: I wish there were civil organisations that support Romanians in Timok Valley (Serbia) or in Ukraina.
After the meeting and the press release the Hungarian delegation, Adrian Solomon, President of MCSMSZ and Attila Hegyeli, Educational Secretary were invited by Bogdan Olteanu to a festive lunch. The Romanian Speaker of the Parliament confirmed this time again that he supports our efforts, and warned that it was election period and unfortunately the exaggerated patriotism, antagonism or popularism of some of the Romanian politicians may also occur. The Speaker of the Parliament received Romanian publications on Csango issues and a CD including Csango-Hungarian folk songs from our Association.
After the lunch, members of both delegation visited the local Pistruiatu (Szeplőske) children home, where they received an insight into the activities of the Community's Benefit Foundation (Fundatia de Sprijin Comunitar - FSC).

In Lespezi

The two delegations - together with Mr. Ovidiu Cojocaru Head School-Inspector - visited the Lespezi (Lészped) state school belonging to the Garlen community. The local Mayor and Ionita Monica, Director of the local primary school welcomed the guests. Children dressed in folk dresses welcomed the guests both in Hungarian and Romanian in the traditional way: with milk loaf and homespuns. The guests gathered in the Hungarian language room could see a short performance with Hungarian songs and poems, which was followed by a Romanian scene performed by first and fourth grade students. The nearly 40 children coming to the Hungarian classes had a performance that convinced both the Romanian and the Hungarian guests that Attila Márton local teacher, director of the programme has done a fruitful job in Lespesi. They also took a look at the main building of the school. There was a sign in four languages (also in Hungarian), which even in the morning of the visit stirred the emotions of some Lespezi teachers due to the Hungarian text.
The pupils learning Hungarian surprised the two Speakers of Parliament with a small present.
Ovidiu Cojocaru Head School-Inspector was the first school-inspector in the past decades, who participated in a "activity" conducted in Hungarian. We hope that such excuses like "the Csango children cannot speak Hungarian" will not be common at the school inspectorate in the future. After the programme at Lespezi Bogdan Olteanu said good-bye to the Hungarian delegation and left.

Valea Mare (Nagypatak) and Ciucani (Csík falu)

As part of the afternoon programme prepared by MCSMSZ, Katalin Szili and her delegation took a private visit to Nagypatak and Csík falu. Dr. Ádám Márkusfalvi-Tóth, President of AMMOA and Dóra Hegedűs, President of KEMCSE joined the guestes here. The reason we chose these two places were that we wanted to show to our guests such a settlement, where the Hungarian education has just started in the form of after school classes, and another one where the MCSMSZ has been continuing daily activities for several years.
The after school classes started couple of months ago in Valea Mare. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2008 the teachers had to carry out their work while an anti-Hungarian campaign was also going on. As our teacher colleague Máté Varga told to the guests, the children are slowly coming back to the class after the scandal, but they are still afraid, and many of them are coming in secret. After taking a look at the classroom rented by MCSMSZ and the teacher's flat, the delegation visited Adrian Solomon, Mayor in his office, to whom Katalin Szili expressed her thanks for all his support in removing the difficulties around the after class programme. The Mayor accompanied the delegation to the place of education in Valea Mare, where the guests were welcomed with songs performed by local ladies. The children in Valea Mare and their teachers gave a haversack and a locally made homespun to Katalin Szili. The Madam Speaker gave Hungarian children films, books and a DVD player to the pupils.
In Ciucani to the request of Ms. Szili the delegation took a short walk to reach the Children's House owned by MCSMSZ, where a large company, old and young of the village gathered to welcome the guests. The tasty traditional milk loaf stood ready, so there was also something to eat while the children held their performance. Songs and poems followed one another, the Speaker of the Parliament wanted to see not only the classrooms, but also the rooms where the teachers were accomodated and had a talk with teachers Edit Bende and Erika Ládi. The Mayor told to the members of the delegation, and the large number of villagers, that he is ready to continue the sincere and open collaboration. He also mentioned that until the time the new school would be ready, all the pupils and nursery-school children in the village go to the Children's Home by favour of the MCSMSZ, that is the state education will take place fully in this building.
Katalin Szili herself and several other members of the delegation expressed that they will register as godparents, which means that they would like to bear the costs of Hungarian education of a pupil, they would also like to get to know him or her and his or her family and would like to correspond as a symbolic godparent. In this way the Madam Speaker could get to know her newly adopted goddaughter and her mother. Four other members of the delegation became godparents.
In Ciucani children prepared a thread of bead with the name of Katalin Szili on a bracelet, and she also received a necklace with a matching icon along with a Csango homespun. To the suggestion of the teachers, the children also made the composition of one of the pupils as a present, which was about the pupil's own village. The same way as in Valea Mare, the delegation gave Hungarian children films, books and a DVD player to the children.

At the headquarters of the Association of the Csango-Hungarians

We also had the opportunity to welcome the high rank delegation at our office in Bacau. Here Katalin Szili expressed her appreciation to the activities done by MCSMSZ and she assured us that not only in diplomatic, but also in other ways she intends to support our activities and efforts. She announced that she intends to give a one million forint subsidy to the MCSMSZ. We thanked for the donation and we mentioned that we would like to use this amount for the construction of the Fundu Răcăciuni Fundu Racaciuni (Külsőrekecsin) Children's Home. We presented our plans to the guests: we explained that currently 19 settlements have Hungarian education and there are at least 20 other settlements where it would be favourable to start teaching the Hungarian language, however the lack of teachers and the financial difficulties have not allowed it so far. We thanked for the visit, since it is obvious that significant steps were taken on this day and we can talk about this visit as a diplomatic success story. Katalin Szili also suggested that it would be useful to establish a sister town relationship with a Hungarian city similar in size to Bacau and she offered her help in this respect.
The last event of the programme in Csangoland was the festive dinner. Apart from the Hungarian guests, also the teachers of the Moldovan educational programme participated, just as well the representatives of the Hungarian Embassy in Bucarest and Csaba Sógor EP member. During the dinner the Co-Presidents of the Forum for Representatives in the Carpathian valley (KMKF) announced that they will invite Attila Hegyeli, the Education Secretary of MCSMSZ in April 2008 to the next meeting of the Educational Subcommittee of KMKF to be held in Budapest, at which the issue of the Hungarian education in Csangoland will be on the agenda.
We can say in general that this visit was a kind of acknowledgement of our many year's of work for the survival of the Hungarians in Csangoland. Of course, the visitors were not only interested in the activities of the MCSMSZ and it Hungarian civil partner the AMMOA and the KEMCSE, but also to all the Csango-Hungarian people. We hope that with this diplomatic success such doors will open up to the Romanian authorities, through which the co-operation that we so highly value can realise.
We thank to Mrs. Katalin Szili and Mr. Bogdan Olteanu Speakers of the Parliament to their supportive words and actions, we thank for the presence of all the members of both the Romanian and the Hungarian delegation, and we say thank you to the diplomates who helped in the organisation of the visit - first of all to the representatives of the Embassy in Budapest and the Head Consulate in Csíkszereda -, the co-worker of MCSMSZ, AMMOA and KEMCSE, the teachers educating the children, the mayors, school directors and teachers collaborating in education in Csangoland.