| Jan 1990 |
Following the adoption of a law on political parties, the multiparty system is reborn in Czechoslovakia. |
| Jan 1 - Mar 31, 1990 |
The IHI is given 5 seats in Czechoslovakia's parliament. |
| Mar 5, 1990 |
Cultural Freedom For Hungarian Workers in Czechoslovakia (CSEMADOK) warns its members of "extreme manifestations" of anti-Hungarian feelings in Slovakia. It also accuses the Slovakian press of overt anti-Hungarian campaigns. |
| Apr 17, 1990 |
The Daily Telegraph reports that there have been mass rallies in Bratisalva where Slovak crowds "bayed" at references to Hungarians. |
| Jun 1990 |
The Slovak National Party (SNP) wins 11% of the vote in Slovak elections. The SNP has been stirring up anti-Hungarian sentiment. The new 150 member Slovak parliament contains 24 ethnic Hungarian deputies 14 from the Hungarian Coalition (which does not contain the HPP for this election), 6 from the IHI and 4 from non-Hungarian parties. The IHI joins the governing coalition. |
| Nov 1990 |
In local elections in Slovakia, Coexistence gains 6.23% of the vote, 110 mayoralties and 2,500 elected posts. The HCDM gains three percent of the popular vote and the IHI gains 1.3%. |
| Oct 1991 |
Coexistence and the HCDM send a lengthy memorandum on how to improve the current situation of Czechoslovakia's minorities to the federal, Czech, and Slovak parliaments as well as to international organizations such as the Council of Europe. |
| Oct 26, 1991 |
The Slovak regional parliament votes to make Slovak the only official language in the region. The rights of minorities to use their own languages will continue to be respected. Hungarians can still use their native language in all official venues in communities where they constitute at least 20% of the population. Deputies of the SNP walk out in protest, demanding that the law bar ethnic Hungarians and other minorities from conducting any kind of business in their mother tongues. This is followed by formal protests and hunger strikes by SNP supporters which continue well into November. |
| Dec 1991 |
The Hungarian People's Party (HPP) becomes the first political party (as opposed to a political movement) to register at the Slovak Ministry of Internal Affairs. |
| Jun 5 - 6, 1992 |
In Slovak elections, the separatist Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) wins 30% of the vote, more than twice as much as any other party. Party leader Meciar promises to separate from Czechoslovakia in less than a year. Hungarian leaders have already expressed fears of a Meciar victory and have hinted that they, in turn, might break away from a nationalist Slovak state. The 2 main Hungarian parties gain 10% of the vote and 14 out of 150 seats in parliament. The Hungarian Civic Party wins 2.3% of the vote but gains no seats in parliament because of a five percent threshold and a coalition of three more radical Hungarian parties known as the Hungarian Coalition which is headed by Coexistence gain 7.4% of the vote and all of the 14 Hungarian seats. |
| Jun 18, 1992 |
Reuters reports that in southern Slovakia some bilingual signs have been defaced and that slogans such as "Slovakia for the Slovaks" adorn the walls of houses. |
| Jun 30, 1992 |
The Financial Times reports that Hungary has called for autonomy for ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia. Note Hungary acts as an advocate for ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia throughout the period covered in this chronology. Further instances of this advocacy will not be noted unless otherwise noteworthy. |
| Jul 1992 |
The European Community expresses concern about the status of Slovakia's national minorities and the Council of Europe Secretary-General Catherine Lalumiere visits Bratslava to discuss the matter with Slovak Prime Minister Meciar. |
| Jul 17, 1992 |
Slovakia's government decrees its independence from Czechoslovakia. This independence will not become official until January 1 1993. |
| Aug 10, 1992 |
The New York Times reports that Slovak Prime Minister Meciar announced in parliament, when referring to Hungarians, that any ethnic politicians who roil national tensions will be treated as "political criminals." |
| Sep 1, 1992 |
The Slovakian parliament passes a draft constitution. Hungarian deputies walk out after parliament rejects their demands for cultural, educational, and territorial autonomy. The new constitution recognizes Hungarian as an official language only in regions where ethnic Hungarians constitute at least 20% of the population. |
| Sep 1992 |
Ethnic Hungarians accuse Slovak police of brutally beating soccer fans from Budapest at a soccer match while Slovak fans cheer. Police claim they were merely subduing rowdy fans who had started fights. |
| Sep 1992 |
Signs showing the names of ethnically mixed towns in Hungarian are ordered removed and state-run television bans those names from Hungarian-language television programs. |
| Sep 1992 |
Prime Minister Meciar rejects any accord with Hungary on the minority issue calling the matter an internal affair. |
| Oct 19, 1992 |
Reuters reports that permission has been refused for the creation of a Hungarian school system in Slovakia and that a proposal by Hungarian deputies to create a Hungarian university had been rejected. |
| Dec 11, 1992 |
Members of three of Slovakia's four ethnic Hungarian parties send a joint statement to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) listing shortcomings in the observance of the "Helsinki principles" in Czechoslovakia. Note Ethnic Hungarians appeal to international organizations and states, especially Hungary, regarding their treatment by the Slovak government throughout the period covered by this chronology. Such appeals will not be further noted unless otherwise noteworthy. |
| Jan 1, 1993 |
Slovakia officially becomes an independent state. |
| Jan 2, 1993 |
Reuters reports that under a law passed last year, all official documents including birth certificates must be in Slovak as must all public ceremonies. This means that ethnic Hungarians must give their children Slovak names. |
| Feb 18, 1993 |
A fact-finding mission to Slovakia by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) finds no major problems between Slovaks and ethnic Hungarians. |
| Apr 27, 1993 |
Slovak President Michal Kovac says that Slovakia will never grant autonomy to its Hungarian minority. His statement follows renewed calls by Coexistence for Hungarians to be given autonomy in districts in southern Slovakia. |
| May 13, 1993 |
Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar says that his government is ready to lift restrictions on the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia in accordance with the Council of Europe's demands. This includes lifting the ban on the use of Hungarian first names and the mandatory use of a Slovak ending on all female last names. Slovakia wants to join the Council but has been prevented from doing so because of its perceived discrimination against minorities. Note Meciar's HZDS party never keeps its promise and those reforms that do occur are enacted by another government after the HZDS party is ousted. (See May 19 1993, July 1993, March 11 1994, May 27 1994 and July 7 1994 for details.) |
| May 19, 1993 |
The Hungarian Coalition submits a draft proposal to parliament containing a 10-point list of conditions that the Council of Europe asked Slovakia to fulfill with regard to the rights of Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian minority. The proposal is never voted on owing to the obstructionism of Slovak parties which accuse the country's ethnic Hungarians of delaying Slovakia's admission into the Council of Europe. |
| Jun 1993 |
Prime Minister Meciar rejects the creation of regions based on ethnic principles, describing them as "nonfunctional." |
| Jun 8, 1993 |
The Irish Times reports that in order to join the Council of Europe, Slovakia plans to change local government boundaries in Hungarian populated areas. The borders currently run from north to south, slicing up the Hungarian population. Note This promise is, to date, not kept. In fact, the government later proposes a redistricting plan which would make Hungarians a minority in all districts. (See January 8, 1994 for details.) |
| Jun 30, 1993 |
Slovakia becomes a member of the Council of Europe despite Hungary's reservations about Slovakia's treatment of its ethnic Hungarian minority. |
| Jul 1993 |
Prime Minister Meciar refuses to sign into law a bill that would have legalized the official use of Hungarian first and family names. |
| Jul 2, 1993 |
The St. Petersburg Times reports that the present demands of Hungarians in Slovakia include the right to education in Hungarian beyond the elementary school level, the right to Hungarian street signs and the right to give Hungarian first names to their children. |
| Aug 12 - 16, 1993 |
Ethnic Hungarians block traffic through their village in protest against a government decision to remove a road sign written in Hungarian. The village later erects signs with question marks to replace the Hungarian-language signs. In June, the government allowed Hungarian signs to be put up alongside Slovak ones but the permission was rescinded on July 14 and communities were given until the end of July to remove the signs. |
| Aug 27, 1993 |
For the first time ever, Slovakia's ethnic Hungarians hold a mass demonstration in the town of Komarno to defend their rights and demand the government's compliance with the Council of Europe's recommendations on minority rights. |
| Sep 24, 1993 |
Slovakia and Romania agree to coordinate their policies on the question of national minorities. Both countries have sizable ethnic Hungarian populations. |
| Dec 5, 1993 |
The Toronto Star reports that the Hungarian Civic Party claims that 45% of Slovakia's ethnic Hungarians support autonomy and that this support is growing. |
| Dec 14, 1993 |
The Mayors of about 100 towns and villages in the predominant Hungarian southern Slovakia publish a written appeal for self-government. The Slovakian government calls this "anti-state activity." This is part of an organized campaign by Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian leaders seeking a self-governing province or group of provinces in Slovakia which began with a December 6 meeting of the Zitny Ostrov Association of Towns and Villages (ZMOZO) in Komarno. Coexistence claims that this initiative has been launched because the Slovak cabinet has "no interest in listening to the opinions of the representatives of the Hungarian minority." |
| Dec 21, 1993 |
Parliament passes a resolution saying that the ZMOZO appeal "oversteps the legal decree" defining the establishment of nonpolitical organizations in towns and villages. The resolution further states that the implementation of the plan could "damage the territorial integrity of the country and disturb the coexistence of citizens and cooperation between different nationality groups." |
| Jan 2, 1994 |
500 ethnic Slovaks demonstrate in the southern Slovakian town of Surany against self-rule for ethnic Hungarians. |
| Jan 8, 1994 |
About 3,500 ethnic Hungarians, mostly local elected officials and parliament members, meet in the southern Slovakian town of Komarno to demand greater autonomy. Leaders of the pro-autonomy ZMOZO say they have drawn up rights proposals they will hand to ethnic Hungarian deputies in parliament. The meeting is planed by the 100 or so mayors who published an appeal for ethnic Hungarian self-rule (see December 14 1993 for details). The proposals drafted at this meeting, however, do not make any outright calls for autonomy, instead calling for a special legal status for areas dominated by ethnic Hungarians and offering to resolve the issue "within the territory of Slovakia" and "with respect to the integrity" of the country. They also call for Hungarian to be made an official language in areas with an ethnic Hungarian majority as well as the right to use the language throughout Slovakia, ethnic Hungarian representation in state bodies and public institutions corresponding with their ratio in the population, and a share of state and local budgets corresponding to their proportion of the population. The participants object to government plans to redistrict Slovakia in such a way that ethnic Hungarians would be a minority in all provinces. This would change administrative borders that have been in existence since the 13th century. Organizers say that Slovakian police stopped vehicles going to Komarno and stranded two buses after taking away the drivers' licenses. The government calls the meeting "illegal and unconstitutional." |
| Jan 20, 1994 |
Max van der Stoel, High Commissioner on National Minorities for the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) meets with the Slovak government and minority leaders to discuss the ethnic Hungarian demand for self-rule. |
| Feb 2, 1994 |
Slovak Foreign Minister Jozef Maravcik accuses Hungary of feeding "irredentist tendencies" within Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian population. Note Slovakian politicians repeatedly accuse Hungary of fueling Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian population's demands for cultural rights and separatism throughout the period covered by this chronology. Such accusations will not be further noted unless otherwise noteworthy. |
| Mar 11, 1994 |
Slovakia's government is ousted by a vote of no confidence. |
| Mar 14, 1994 |
Jozef Maravick is formally recognized as Prime Minister at the head of a 5-party coalition which will act as a caretaker government until elections next September. |
| May 27, 1994 |
Parliament passes a law allowing the country's ethnic Hungarians to officially use Hungarian names. Deputies from the SNP and the HZDS storm out of the chamber in protest claiming that the law does not comply with the rules of Slovak grammar. |
| Jun 3, 1994 |
Parliament narrowly rejects a law which would allow signs in both Slovak and Hungarian in towns with at least a 20% Hungarian population. Hungarian deputies vote against the law because villages named after Slovak heroes are to be excluded from the law's provisions. |
| Jul 7, 1994 |
Parliament passes a law allowing some 590 Slovak towns and villages with at least a 20% ethnic Hungarian population to use bilingual signs. |
| Sep 30 - Oct 1, 1994 |
In national elections the HZDS wins 35% of the vote, more than three times as much as any other party and 61 out of 150 seats in parliament. The Hungarian Coalition, led by Coexistence, wins 10.2% of the vote and 17 seats. |
| Dec 11, 1994 |
Prime Minister Meciar, after months of negotiations, announces a coalition government of his HZDS with 2 small parties the right-wing SNP and the left-wing Association of Slovak workers. |
| Mar 19, 1995 |
Hungary and Slovakia sign a treaty agreeing on borders and the protection of ethnic minorities. Slovakia agrees to a clause calling for "appropriate laws or autonomous authorities" in areas where the country's ethnic Hungarians constitute a majority. In return, Hungary recognizes the inviolability of Slovakia's borders. |
| Mar 21, 1995 |
The World Coalition of Hungarians, which claims to represent 2.5 million Hungarians living outside of Hungary, states that the Hungary-Slovakia treaty constitutes nothing but empty promises. |
| Mar 27, 1995 |
Max Duraj, chairman of Coexistence, announces that despite the Hungary-Slovakia friendship treaty, Slovakia's ethic Hungarians still want self-rule. Many Slovak nationalists think that the treaty went too far. |
| Jul 27, 1995 |
The Prime Ministers of Slovakia and Romania agree to boost bilateral ties and take a common stand on the sensitive issue of treatment of their large ethnic Hungarian minorities. |
| Aug 4, 1995 |
Laszlo Nagy and two other ethnic Hungarian minority parties’ chairmen were being prosecuted for their statements allegedly defaming the republic, according to complaints lodged by the government Slovak National Party. |
| Oct 25, 1995 |
Slovak Culture Minister Ivan Hudec said a new version of the state language law would restore the rights of Slovaks and correct for ethnic Hungarians having had too many rights. He also accused ethnic Hungarian politicians of reacting unreasonably to the new version of the bill. |
| Nov 16, 1995 |
The Hungarian government adopted a resolution on the adoption of the Slovak language law which makes Slovak the only official language of the country. The government stated the new language law "conflicts with the spirit and wording of the Hungarian-Slovak treaty on the principles of inter-state relations" signed by Prime Ministers Meciar and Horn in March 1995. |
| Dec 20, 1995 |
Debate began in Slovakia’s parliament over the treaty signed in March by Meciar and his Hungarian counterpart (Gyula Horn). The treaty would normalize relations between the two states which have been strained since the 1918 break-up of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Some members of Meciar’s own governing coalition are in opposition to the accord because they feel it could fan separatist sentiment among the ethnic Hungarian population. |
| Feb 7, 1996 |
The opposition Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement (MKDH) and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) have agreed to lodge a complaint with the Constitutional Court against the state language law adopted in November 1995. One-fifth of the legislature’s 150 MPs are necessary to lodge a complaint. The two parties have 17 MPs each. President Kovac signed the law, which was passed by a large majority of parliament, with the reservation that he would turn to the Constitutional Court if a law on the use of ethnic minorities’ languages is not passed and if ethnic citizens’ "language rights are violated." |
| Feb 28, 1996 |
Gyula Bardos of MKDH and Viktor Bauer of the Csemadok Hungarian Cultural Association resigned from the government’s Council for Ethnic Minorities. They had proposed last year that the government council be comprised exclusively of ethnic minority representatives or that at least parity between Slovaks and non-Slovaks be established. The Council refused to discuss changes to its status for the third time. At present, the Council has 24 members 10 ethnic minority representatives, two representatives from the nationalist Matica Slovenska and 12 state officials. |
| Mar 1996 |
The Slovak parliament finally ratified the year-old treaty Meciar signed with Hungary to normalize relations between the two states. One reason for the ratification of the treaty is Slovakia’s desire of being accepted as a candidate for NATO inclusion. The 17 Hungarian deputies in the 150 seat parliament were expected to vote against the ratification reasoning Slovakia had violated the treaty before even ratifying it by adopting the November 1995 language law making Slovak the only official language of the country. |
| Jun 12, 1996 |
Slovak President Michal Kovak, visiting Hungary, urged his own government to pass legislation to protect the language rights of Slovakia’s Hungarian minority. |
| Aug 1, 1996 |
Far-right members of Slovakia’s ruling coalition said it would propose the country withdraw from a basic treaty with neighboring Hungary over the issue of ethnic Hungarians abroad. The Slovak National Party, a minor party in Meciar’s coalition, accused Hungary of violating the basic treaty by calling for autonomy for ethnic Hungarians abroad. |
| Sep 7, 1996 |
The Slovak cultural and educational organization Matica Slovenska has warned the Council of Europe of "Hungarian irredentism in Slovakia." On 25 August, their supporters protested against a demand for autonomy for the half-million strong Hungarian minority in south Slovakia and alleged violation of the rights of Slovaks in that area. |
| Oct 10, 1996 |
Slovakia, appealing to be included in the first wave of new NATO members, said it was doing more for ethnic rights than some NATO states. Foreign Minister Pavol Hamzik said a proposed law protecting minority languages was all that was needed to improve human rights. The U.S. State Department said on 3 October that Washington was concerned about indications that the Slovak government’s commitment to democracy had been weakening. |
| Oct 23, 1996 |
The traditional division of the country into four regions has been discarded in favor of a system with eight regions centered around the country’s eight largest cities. In addition, these eight regions are further divided into 79 district levels governments. Meciar hopes the 79 districts will eventually become 79 political constituencies and he plans to change the electoral system to one that either combines proportional representation and first-past-the-post or is a straightforward first-past-the-post system. Many of the key offices in the new districts and regional governments will be filled by appointees rather than elected officials. Among the fiercest opponents to the new system are the mayors of Slovakia’s largest cities. They predict that, with officially-approved functionaries in place in the new administrations, the central government will be able to impose its will on the new regions and districts in a way it has not been able to do up to now. Ethnic Hungarians accused the government of gerrymandering and excessive patronage. With the new district organization, ethnic Hungarians would not be the majority of any district. At present the Hungarian minority is well-represented in Parliament and local governments, but not in the central government. |
| Feb 5, 1997 |
Slovakia rejected accusations by Hungary that it was violating a bilateral treaty by failing to pass a long-awaited minority language law. So far, Meciar’s government has failed to draft such a law with Meciar and other ministers arguing that minority languages were sufficiently protected by the constitution and national laws. Slovakia has been criticized by the United States and the Council of Europe on this issue. Slovakia and Hungary’s relations are strained over what Budapest alleges is Bratislava’s ill-treatment of its Hungarian minority. |
| Feb 7, 1997 |
Melanie Kollarikova from the Slovak National Party (SNS) touched off a debate by declaring that only Slovak-language school documents were legal. Consequentially, report cards and diplomas were issued only in Slovak for the first time in fifty years, while similar documents issued in Slovak and Hungarian--which had been standard--were unavailable. In schools in Hungarian-speaking districts that had not made Hungarian reports available, the children refused to pick up the Slovak reports. By April, the Association of Hungarian Parents in Slovakia collected 50,000 signatures on petitions demanding the reinstatement of bilingual documents. (CTK News Wire 2/7/97 and British Broadcasting Corporation 4/11/97) |
| Feb 7 - 8, 1997 |
The Federation of Hungarian Teachers in Slovakia [SZMPSZOV] formally protested a series of Education Ministry regulations. These regulations would have banned bilingual school records; allowed only Slovak-language seals and signs; required entrance examinations for Hungarian-language schools be conducted in Slovak; and not ensured that school competitions be conducted in the student's mother tongue. In addition, the teachers maintained that the Education Ministry was preparing a general education bill that would threaten the future of schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction by closing such schools and limiting teacher training in Hungarian. (British Broadcasting Corporation 2/14/97) |
| Feb 26, 1997 |
Ethnic Hungarian deputies resigned from the government's Council for Ethnic Minorities to protest their lack of power on the council. Of the 24-member Council, only ten were members of ethnic minorities while two were from the nationalist Matica Slovenska organization. The other 12 were state officials. The Hungarian group had suggested several ways to decrease the power wielded by the government in the organization, each of which was refused. The proposal for a new statute envisioned 14 members, with 11 from minorities and three from the government. (CTK Newswire 2/26/97) |
| Mar 1997 |
Symbols of the Slovak Republic were burned during a weekend attack at a Slovak-language primary school. Hungarians were blamed. (British Broadcasting Corporation 3/13/97) |
| Mar 26, 1997 |
The Kosice district court overturned the local council's decision to destroy controversial monuments erected in the east Slovak villages of Leles and Krasna Horka, which marked the 1,100th anniversary of the Hungarian arrival in Slovakia. The monuments included plaques stating that Slovakia was the Hungarians’ homeland, which irritated the Slovaks. The decision could not be appealed, but was subject to new action if the local authorities found new evidence that they violated local interests. (CTK Newswire 3/26/97) |
| Apr 15, 1997 |
A member of the Egyuetteles (Coexistence) party sued the Education Ministry for deciding that Slovak history and geography lessons in ethnic Hungarian schools could only be taught by ethnic Slovaks. The Hungarian party member maintained that the Ministry was discriminating against ethnic Hungarian teachers in favor of Slovak teachers. Such discrimination is in violation of the Charter of Basic Human Rights and Freedoms--a criminal offence carrying a year in prison or a fine. (CTK Newswire 4/15/97) |
| Apr 16, 1997 |
Leaflets advocating the creation of the "Upper Land Autonomy" and separation of south Slovakia were passed out in Rimavska Sobota, East Slovakia. Hungarian leaders claimed that they were distributed by SIS Slovak counter-intelligence in an attempt to discredit them. The OSCE Chairperson for National Minorities was in Slovakia at the time, urging the president to protect the Hungarians and assuring him that they harbored no secessionist claims. (CTK Newswire 4/16/97) |
| May 12, 1997 |
The Matica Slovenska's Center for Nationality Relations reported that the number of people in Slovakia who declared themselves to be of Hungarian nationality was growing, despite the fact that the ethnic Hungarian birth rate was half the Slovak one. They reported that the number of Hungarians had increased by 48,000 between 1961 and 1991 while the number of Slovaks in the southern regions was falling. A government official claimed that Slovaks were becoming a minority in the Hungarian areas. (CTK Newswire 5/12/97) |
| Jun 15, 1997 |
In an interview on Slovak radio, Slovak President Michal Kovac admitted that he did not know why the government had repealed the Hungarian-language report cards, and called on both sides of the nationalist debate to moderate their demands. (British Broadcasting Corporation 6/17/97) |
| Jun 16, 1997 |
A leader of the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) defended his country against European Parliament allegations that it trampled on the rights of the Hungarian minority by saying "Ethnic Hungarians have many rights in Slovakia." He resisted calls to reform the state language laws, in particular to bring them in line with European norms, by insisting "Slovakia must not be made a guinea pig of Europe." Note Slovakia’s intransigence in addressing Europe’s perceptions of its minority problems remained a hot topic throughout the period covered by this update, and eventually cost it membership in the CSCE. This debate will not be further addressed unless otherwise noteworthy. (British Broadcasting Corporation 6/18/97) |
| Jun 30, 1997 |
Lydia Bencov, director of the Slovak Education Ministry, announced that Hungarian students who had refused Slovak-language diplomas for elementary school might not be allowed to enter secondary schools since they could not prove that they had graduated. She added that all Hungarian high school graduates had picked up their diplomas before taking their college entrance exams, so there would be no danger of them not starting college. (CTK Newswire 6/30/97) |
| Jul 1, 1997 |
Slovak newspapers publicized the name of an elementary school teacher from Roznava, East Slovakia who was fired on charges of having violated working discipline and the state language law by issuing bilingual diplomas. The teacher was the first one fired under the unilingual school report policy. (CTK News Wire 7/1/97) |
| Jul 2, 1997 |
The Slovak Education Minister declared during a meeting with Hungarian minority teachers and an educational society that the banning of bilingual education certificates was a purely political move. (British Broadcasting Corporation 7/4/97) |
| Aug 12, 1997 |
A dispute arose between the Slovak Ministry of Culture and Csmadok, the Hungarian cultural organization. Csmadok claimed that the Ministry had not funded it for two years. The Ministry responded that its funding ran through regional cultural centers, and that Csmadok should have been offering bilingual programs. (British Broadcasting Corporation 8/14/97) |
| Aug 13, 1997 |
A Hungarian newspaper reprinted the contents of a letter allegedly written by the Slovak Hungarian community to the Hungarian Premier. The premier was scheduled to meet with the Slovak premier later that week. The letter alleged that Hungarians were excluded from the privatization process and purged from the Slovak administration. They also mentioned the school certificate issue, and the fact that Slovakia had not yet lived up to its earlier agreement to include Hungarians in government decisions which directly concerned them. (CTK News Wire 8/13/97) Five Slovak opposition parties joined a coalition with Hungarian parties in an effort to gain the majority in the upcoming election. They said they would be willing to accept international norms on the treatment of ethnic minorities, unlike the current government, and that they were not afraid that their coalition with the Hungarians would cost them votes. (British Broadcasting Corporation 8/15/97) |
| Sep 8, 1997 |
Representatives of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia called for the resignation of Premier Meciar after he made statements regarding the return of Hungarians to Hungary during a mid-August conference with the Hungarian premier. Meciar claimed the reference was to the free movement of people across the border; the Hungarians felt it was reminisce of the deportation of Hungarians that had occurred fifty years earlier. (CTK News Wire 9/8/97) |
| Sep 9, 1997 |
The Constitutional Court upheld only one of the twenty claims made against the language law, which required the use of the Slovak language in official venues and commerce. The Court did rule that minorities had the right to use their mother tongue in official written contact with authorities. (CTK News Wire 9/9/97) |
| Sep 17, 1997 |
The Slovak foreign minister cancelled a weekend meeting with his Hungarian counterpart after accusing Hungary of distorting Slovakia’s policies towards Hungarians in the media. In particular, the Slovak foreign minister argued that Slovakia’s reference to opening the border was not a call to repatriate Hungarians or "cleanse" Slovakia, although Hungary had depicted it that way. (TASS 9/19/97) |
| Sep 30, 1997 |
Another Hungarian elementary school principle was fired based on his refusal to issue Slovak-only school documents. The teacher was allowed to continue teaching in the school, in the capital of Bratislava. (British Broadcasting Corporation 10/2/97) |
| Oct 3, 1997 |
The coalition of Hungarian political parties alleged that at least 500 of the 2,000 Hungarian school teachers had their pay docked in reprisals during the school certificate issue. The teachers were not allowed to talk to the media, so the actual number could have been higher. (British Broadcasting Corporation 10/6/97) |
| Oct 6, 1997 |
300 people, including members of ethnic Hungarian parties, the Hungarian Teachers’ Association, and the Association of Hungarian Parents in Slovakia rallied against the issuance of Slovak-only school documents. The rallies and protests had subsided slightly since August. (British Broadcasting Corporation 10/9/97) |
| Oct 8, 1997 |
The headmaster of a specialist machinery apprentice school in Dunajska Streda, expelled two students because their primary school reports were written in both Hungarian and Slovak. The headmaster believed the bilingual report cards were "invalid falsifications" and that the students could not demonstrate they had had a primary school education. (CTK News Wire 10/8/97) |
| Oct 16, 1997 |
The Hungarian Civic Party (MOS) demanded that its two Hungarian coalition parties, Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement (MKDH) and Coexistence, sign an agreement to form a single Hungarian Coalition party for the next electoral campaign. Coexistence wanted to simply unite the three parties but campaign separately. (British Broadcasting Corporation 10/18/97) |
| Oct 22, 1997 |
The Hungarian Office of Hungarians Beyond the Border released its report on Hungarians in Slovakia. According to them, 73.8 per cent of ethnic Hungarian children learn in Hungarian schools. About 2.2 per cent of Hungarians acquire a university or college degree, while 5.8 per cent of Slovaks do. They also counted one daily Hungarian-language newspaper, three weeklies and monthlies, four scientific and art periodicals, six professional papers, two church papers, and a number of regional publications in Slovakia. (British Broadcasting Corporation 10/24/97) |
| Oct 23, 1997 |
Ethnic Hungarian parliamentary parties, the Hungarian Teachers' Association, the Association of Hungarian Parents, and other Hungarian organizations in Slovakia established a council for the protection of Hungarian education in Slovakia. They demanded the dismissal of the Slovak education minister and set up a trust fund to aid teachers whose salaries had been reduced in retaliation for issuing bilingual school reports. (British Broadcasting Corporation 10/27/97) |
| Oct 29, 1997 |
According to a poll released by the Slovak Statistics Office, 68% of ethnic Hungarians felt that the observation of human rights had declined since the fall of Communism in 1989. Only 32% of the general population felt the same way. (CTK News Wire 10/29/97) |
| Nov 5, 1997 |
The Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement [MKDH] spoke out against a government memorandum submitted to the European Union and other international bodies stating that it guaranteed to minorities the use of their mother tongue in private and public life and in official contacts. It also said that 12 laws covered the use of minority languages. The MKDH believed the government had no intention of carrying out its promises. The three Hungarian parties had proposed a new language law in compliance with EU requirements, which would have protected minority languages in areas where any one minority comprised 10 percent of the population. The law was later rejected. (British Broadcasting Corporation 11/7/97 and Prague Post 11/19/97) |
| Nov 12, 1997 |
The Slovak Education Ministry requested a report on which history textbooks were used in minority schools in Slovakia, while the education department of the Nitra district authority warned schools that they could only use textbooks approved by the Education Ministry. Coexistence maintained Nitra’s instruction was unconstitutional because the Law on Primary and Secondary Schools said textbooks not included in the Education Ministry’s list could also be used in schools. (British Broadcasting Corporation 11/14/97) |
| Nov 20, 1997 |
The three ethnic Hungarian parliamentary parties signaled they would pledge not to seek Hungarian self-rule. (CTK News Wire 11/20/97) |
| Dec 2, 1997 |
Opposition parties in the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) and the Hungarian coalition (MK) signed an agreement rejecting the "violent or administrative limitation of ethnic rights." Ethnic Hungarian leaders added that no ethnic Hungarian party sought "territorial autonomy based on the principle of ethnicity" at that time or in the future, though both coalitions pledged to strive for autonomy on the basis of the country’s territorial and administrative structure. Coexistence refused to join the agreement. The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) of Premier Vladimir Meciar and the Slovak National Party (SNS) of Jan Slota rejected the agreement, saying that groups which admitted they disagreed with the establishment of a Slovak state should not run for office in that state. (CTK News Wire 12/2/97 & 12/3/97) |
| Jan 22, 1998 |
The Hungarian foreign minister claimed that Slovakia's relations with the Hungarian minority were the sole item preventing the implementation of the 1996 inter-state treaty monitoring ethnic relations. Hungary had sought Hungarian representatives on the minority relations board that were supported by the Hungarian political parties in Slovakia, but the Slovak minister maintained that the Hungarian parties did not accurately represent the Hungarian minority in the country. (CTK News Wire 1/22/98) |
| Jan 30, 1998 |
On the day on which Slovak schools issued their half-yearly reports, the parents of about 65,000 ethnic Hungarian schoolchildren launched a petition demanding that a law on ethnic languages be adopted in parliament. They planned to collect 100,000 signatures on the petitions, which were available through Csemadok at Hungarian-language schools. The Slovak education ministry at this time maintained that only all-Slovak certificates were valid, but it was willing to issue additional, unofficial certificates in Hungarian for a fee. (CTK News Wire 1/30/98) |
| Feb 11, 1998 |
According to the Slovak media, only nineteen Hungarian students received bilingual mid-year school reports in January. Their teacher subsequently sued the principal of the school, who refused to sign the certificates, charging her with violating the linguistic rights of the students. (CTK News Wire 2/11/98) |
| Feb 26, 1998 |
Hungary announced that it would fund internet connections for eight schools in the Hungarian-inhabited areas of Slovakia. (MTI Econews 2/26/98) |
| Mar 4, 1998 |
The Slovak Constitutional Court ruled that members of national minorities did not have the right to use their mother tongue at meetings of parliament and parliamentary committees. They maintained that parliamentary sessions were not considered "official contact," since "official contact" required the presence of a citizen who was not a member of the government. Ethnic minorities were constitutionally guaranteed the right to use their mother tongue in official contact with the government. (CTK News Wire 3/4/98) |
| Mar 10, 1998 |
The Coexistence party published a letter to Premier Vladimir Meciar arguing that "only territorial, financial, and cultural autonomy, including autonomy for schools, can guarantee further existence to discriminated ethnic communities living in national states with dubious democracy." It pointed to the fate of Kosovo Albanians as an example. Egyuetteles leaders complained that they had not been given an opportunity to meet experts from the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) during their recent two-day visit to Bratislava designed to discuss the use of ethnic languages. (CTK News Wire 3/10/98) |
| Mar 11, 1998 |
The Hungarian People's Movement for Reconciliation and Prosperity [MLHZP] formally protested proposed changes to the electoral law which would have required every party within a coalition to gain at least 5 per cent of the vote to enter parliament, on the grounds that it prevented political parties from forming pre-election coalitions. (British Broadcasting Corporation 3/13/98) |
| Mar 16, 1998 |
Two ethnic Hungarian principals from high-performing Hungarian-language schools were fired. The Hungarian Coalition protested, claiming the two were fired because the parents of their schools would not accept Slovak-only report cards. (British Broadcasting Corporation 3/19/98) |
| Mar 28, 1998 |
The ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) proposed a change in the law regarding local elections, suggesting proportional representation to ensure that all ethnic groups were represented in local governments. (CTK News Wire 3/28/98) |
| Apr 5, 1998 |
Hungarians formed a six-and-a-half-kilometer long human chain to protest the dismissal of four Hungarian teachers. The Education Ministry claimed they were fired for failing to report that their students had refused to accept Slovak-only school reports. A Hungarian news report issued later that week said that a total of thirteen teachers had been fired in Slovakia based on language issues. (British Broadcasting Corporation 4/6/98 and MTI Econews 4/7/98) |
| Apr 8, 1998 |
Hungarian political parties in Slovakia distanced themselves from suggestions that Hungarians outside of Hungary should receive dual nationality, although they left open the possibility of creating some sort of tie to the country once it joined the European Union. (British Broadcasting Corporation 4/8/98) |
| Apr 19, 1998 |
The town of Sturovo became the only town to hold a referendum on the direct election of the president. Prime Minister Meciar repealed it. The town was mostly Hungarian, but denied the plebiscite had anything to do with ethnicity or secession. (CTK News Wire 4/17/98 and British Broadcasting Corporation 4/20/98) |
| May 5, 1998 |
The Coexistence Party launched a protest against a proposed school law. They said it would turn the government into a censor of all school textbooks, including those used by church schools. The law also included provisions requiring the mandatory teaching of Slovak, even in Hungarian schools. (British Broadcasting Corporation 5/5/98 & 5/14/98) |
| May 20, 1998 |
The parliament approved a new election law which created a single national election district (out of the previously existing four) and required that each party in a coalition gain five percent of the vote in order to win. The SDK and Hungarian Coalition promised that they would transform themselves into a single party in order to maintain representation. (CTK News Wire 5/20/98) |
| Jun 12, 1998 |
511 students of the basic school in Hungarian language in Moldova and Bodvou, eastern Slovakia, and 56 local grammar school students stayed away from class to protest against an education amendment that would require history, geography, and physical education to be taught in Slovak in all schools. (British Broadcasting Corporation 6/12/98) About 3,000 parents, children, and teachers from Lucenec and throughout southeast Slovakia(from Kosice to Cierna nad Tisou) came to a protest gathering in Moldava nad Bodvou (Kosice region) organized by the representatives of Hungarian political parties in Slovakia, the Association of Hungarian Teachers, Association of Hungarian Parents, Csemadok and Hungarian youth organizations. Participants in the event were critical of the draft education act and called for complete education in their mother tongue and the right to be equal citizens of Slovakia. (British Broadcasting Corporation 6/13/98) |
| Jun 17, 1998 |
The Hungarian MOS party chair resigned in protest against the proposed merger of the party with the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement and Coexistence as well as the policies of the combined party. Three other party officials resigned two days later. (British Broadcasting Corporation 6/23/98) |
| Jun 26, 1998 |
The Slovak Education Minister personally distributed Slovak-language graduation certificates to students finishing the eighth grade at the Velke Ulany elementary school with Hungarian as the language of instruction. Each of the students in return handed her a letter of protest against the single-language reports, and parents hissed and shouted shame. The Minister said she did not think her appearance was a provocation and that she was only adhering to the law that required the official reports be only in Slovak. According to the Union of Hungarian Parents in Slovakia, 30 - 40% of the 50,000 Hungarian schoolchildren in Slovakia either refused to accept Slovak reports, or immediately returned them at the end of the term. (CTK News Wire 6/26/98 and British Broadcasting Corporation 6/29/98) |
| Jul 2, 1998 |
Only 31 deputies of the 116 present in the Slovak parliament voted in favor of the proposed education amendment that would have required geography and history to be taught in Slovak. Forty-six abstained from the vote, while 37 opposed it, citing the need to improve relations with the Hungarian community and the Premier’s comment that the amendment was unconstitutional. (CTK News Wire 7/2/98) |
| Aug 18, 1998 |
Hungarian newspapers reported that the Hungarian language service of Slovak television had been shut down. The service had been in operation since 1983, although its broadcasts were continually shifted and censored. (British Broadcasting Corporation 8/18/98) |
| Sep 15, 1998 |
Members of the Hungarian Coalition SMK appeared on Hungarian television accusing the Slovak government of denying them their rightful share of political airtime during the election campaign and that the limited amount of Hungarian language broadcast time available cast them in a negative light. (British Broadcasting Corporation 9/15/98) |
| Sep 21, 1998 |
Private Slovak radio alleged that several thousand ballot papers of the ethnic opposition Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) had been discovered in a trash can outside the State Registrar and Distributor of Printed Materials (SEVT, responsible for printing the ballots). The SMK chairman claimed the incident was a gross provocation designed to either remove the SMK from the election or to demand a new election on the basis of election fraud. The SMK planned to refer the matter to the Central Electoral Commission (UVK) and file a complaint with the Interior Minister as the ballots were clearly stamped by the Slovak Ministry of the Interior. (British Broadcasting Corporation 9/22/98) |
| Sep 22, 1998 |
Jan Slota, the leader of the Slovak National Party (SNS), claimed that the opposition had signed an agreement which promised to grant the Ministries of Culture and Education to the Hungarian Coalition if the opposition gained control of the parliament. Slota also accused the Hungarians of plotting to divide the country, saying that if they were given power they would accomplish that goal in three to five years. The Hungarian Coalition denied the claims. (CTK News Wire 9/22/98) |
| Sep 26, 1998 |
In national Slovak elections, the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) won only 27% of the vote - or 43 seats, while its former coalition partner, the Slovak National Party, won 14 seats. The Democratic Left (SDL) had 14.66 percent of the vote or 23 seats, the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) 9.12 percent or 15 seats, and the Party of Civic Understanding (SOP) 8.01 percent or 13 seats. These four parties had agreed to form a coalition, although by tradition the winning party, the HZDS, got a chance to do so first. (Agence France Presse 9/28/98) |
| Oct 4, 1998 |
The Democratic Left Party (SDL) chairman announced that the proposed coalition government would not have been advantageous to the SDL, and that it was especially difficult to work with the Hungarian coalition. Other opposition parties, however, claimed that there was no dispute about the inclusion of the Hungarians, whom they felt should not be treated as second-class Slovaks. (CTK News Wire 10/4/98 and British Broadcasting Corporation 10/4/98) |
| Oct 28, 1998 |
The new coalition government announced its composition. The Hungarian Coalition gained a deputy premiership (there was one for each party in the coalition) in charge of ethnic minorities and human rights, and the posts of Environment Minister (Laszlo Miklos), and Construction and Public Works Minister (Istvan Harna). (CTK News Wire 10/28/98) |
| Nov 25, 1998 |
Hungarian newspapers reported that the Hungarian editorial team had been reestablished in Slovak television. They would broadcast 15 minutes of news in Hungarian every day, as well as an hour-long program each weekend day. (British Broadcasting Corporation 11/27/98) |
| Dec 4, 1998 |
Two principals who had been fired for issuing school reports in Hungarian and Slovak were reinstated by the Hungarian Coalition deputy premier. (CTK News Wire 12/4/98) |
| Jan 4, 1999 |
The Slovak Education Ministry ordered 55,000 bilingual report cards through the Statistics and Registration Printed Forms Publishers (SEVT) with the possibility of an additional 30 per cent. The Ministry also promised to print bilingual report cards for primary and secondary schools in Hungarian and Ukrainian. A law repealing the mandated Slovak-only reports was being fast-tracked over the opposition of the Slovak National Party in the legislature. (CTK News Wire 1/4/99) |
| Jan 23, 1999 |
The Agriculture Minister accused the Hungarian Party of trying to gain the post of director-general of the Slovak Land Fund in order to restore land to Hungarian families that was expropriated during Benes’ Decrees and during the repatriation of Hungarians after World War II. He also accused the Hungarian Coalition of inflating the amount of land allegedly lost by Hungarian families. (British Broadcasting Corporation 1/23/99) |
| Jan 30, 1999 |
The government formally dismissed its five "language advisors," charged with enforcing the 1995 language laws in schools and public areas. (British Broadcasting Corporation 2/4/99) |
| Feb 5, 1999 |
Miklos Duray, honorary chairman of the Party of the Hungarian Coalition, threatened to block parliamentary action if his party was not given control of the State Land Fund. He believed most of the land it controlled was inhabited by Hungarians. The Slovak National Party accused the Hungarians of using this as a step towards gaining autonomy and oppressing Slovaks in southern Slovakia. (British Broadcasting Corporation 2/6/99) |
| Feb 9, 1999 |
Slovakia implemented the joint Slovak-Hungarian commission on Minorities, which it had agreed to create in a treaty with Hungary in 1995. The Slovak government had stalled on the commission for three years because it opposed the inclusion of Slovak Hungarians in the commission. (CTK News Wire 2/9/99) |
| Feb 21, 1999 |
Some 1,000 people gathered in Surany (Nitra region) for the 12th meeting of Slovaks from southern Slovakia, where they expressed concern about discrimination against Slovaks and the increasing "Hungarization" of the region. (British Broadcasting Corporation 2/21/99) |
| Mar 5, 1999 |
At a rally in Kysucke Nove Mesto, northwestern Slovakia, by the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and Slovak National Party (SNS), SNS party chairman Jan Slota called on members to get into tanks, level Budapest," and defend their territory in southern Slovakia. Slota, who was allegedly drunk when the statements were made, later lost his post as chairman of the parliamentary committee monitoring the Slovak counter-intelligence service (SIS). In addition, he faced charges of instigating racial and national hatred and violence towards a group of the population and individuals, which carried a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. The honorary SNS chairman, on the other hand, said the comments were a "slip," and threatened to call on all SNS members to give up their seats if he were prosecuted or fired. (British Broadcasting Corporation 3/8/99 and CTK National News Wire 3/10/99 & 3/15/99) |
| Mar 16 - 17, 1999 |
The Hungarian Coalition walked out of parliamentary sessions because the coalition had failed to honor a previous agreement about the funding of minority cultural institutions. According to the Hungarian party, the ethnic institutions were funded 30 million crowns less than the agreement called for. (CTK News Wire 3/17/99) |
| May 26, 1999 |
In the days before the first ever Slovak presidential elections, the SMK party claimed that unidentified parties were attempting to discredit the party by distributing leaflets in Hungarian and Slovak which said that the SMK would bring about the secession of southern Slovakia if elected. In addition, the Party of the Democratic Left, which formed part of the four-party governing coalition along with the Hungarian Coalition, suggested that the latter party be eliminated in favor of a three-party ruling coalition. (British Broadcasting Corporation 5/26/99) |
| Jun 8, 1999 |
Parliamentary discussions on the new minority language bill broke down after the Party of Civic Understanding announced that further concessions to the Hungarian parties would amount to the beginning of the creation of a second state language. The SMK said it wanted to address all of the problems of the old language law, which addressed not only the use of minority languages in government, but also in media, schools, and other areas. A version of the bill was passed the following day. Passage of the law was crucial to Slovakia’s inclusion in the European Union. The SNS decried the legislation as giving minority languages state language status, while the HZDS proposed a referendum on the issue, despite the fact that such referenda are barred by the constitution. The final law was passed on July 10 over the objections of the Hungarians, who boycotted the vote. Provisions included guarantees on using the mother tongue in official contact if at least 20 percent of the community population is an ethnic minority and the use of minority languages on signs where at least 20% speak that language. The bill emphasized that the use of the Czech language in official contact stems from its closeness to the official Slovak language. Despite the many favorable provisions, the SMK was still unhappy because the bill still gave Slovak absolute priority, and did not address the use of minority languages in education, culture and the media, or the use of minority languages in the naming of communities or in official ceremonies. (CTK News Wire 6/8/99, 6/9/99, 6/14/99, 6/15/99, 6/24/99 & 7/10/99) |
| Jun 23, 1999 |
About one thousand Slovaks from across the country came to the Government Office to protest against the government bill on the use of minority languages, saying that the bill would Magyarize the Slovaks. (CTK News Wire 6/23/99) |
| Jul 11, 1999 |
SNS and HZDS members of parliament sang "Arise the Slovaks," a patriotic song of the Slovak struggle against Hungarian domination in the era of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire to protest the passage of the Slovak minority language law the day before. (Agence France Presse 7/11/99) |
| Jul 14, 1999 |
The SMK Hungarian Coalition asked newly elected Slovak President Schuster to return the Minorities Language Law to parliament for reconsideration. (CTK News Wire 7/14/99) |
| Jul 20, 1999 |
President Rudolf Schuster signed the law on ethnic minorities’ languages which was passed by the Slovak parliament on July 10. (CTK News Wire 7/20/99) |
| Sep 16, 1999 |
The Slovak Christian Movement (KDH) prevented the Hungarian Coalition SMK from joining the European Democratic Union. The SMK believed the blackball was in retaliation to its opposition to the proposed placement of a statue of Saints Cyril and Methodius - inventors of Slavic writing - in the town of Komarno. (British Broadcasting Corporation 9/18/99) |
| Sep 24, 1999 |
In advance of the 13th meeting of southern Slovakia Slovaks, the Matica Slovenska National Heritage Institution claimed that Slovaks in the area were becoming subject to violations of the Slovak language laws and standards in education. The institution also claimed that Slovaks were becoming second-class citizens, while Slovak institutions were receiving little support. Furthermore, they encouraged a vote of no confidence in the ethnic Hungarian deputy minister of Culture and Ethnic affairs, whom they said had not responded to their demands. (British Broadcasting Corporation 9/25/99) |
| Nov 10, 1999 |
The Slovak National Party [SNS] invited all parliamentary parties, including the Party of the Hungarian Coalition [SMK], to talks on the budget. It marked the first time the SNS had offered to include any Hungarian party in talks. (British Broadcasting Corporation 11/10/99) |
| Nov 25, 1999 |
Hungarian newspapers reported on the case of an ethnic Hungarian teacher who had been fired from the primary school in Trstice where Hungarian as the language of instruction. He was subsequently forced to vacate half of the apartment where he lived with his family. The teacher, who held a first rate university diploma and qualifications, had been replaced by an unqualified applicant and the eviction order was upheld on appeal, leading the teacher to suspect discrimination. (British Broadcasting Corporation 11/26/99) |
| Jan 13, 2000 |
Pierre Gillet, the chairman of the Human Rights Committee for Central Europe published an article in a Belgian newspaper accusing Slovakia of adopting controversial language laws that not only failed to change the situation but actually complicated matters. He claimed the Slovak intelligentsia was trying to establish an ethnically-clean state and had excluded the Hungarian community from the process of privatization. He also lamented the lack of a Hungarian university in Slovakia. The Hungarian Coalition Chairman, however, refuted those claims on Slovak radio. (British Broadcasting Corporation 1/13/00 & 1/14/00) |
| Jun 29, 2000 |
Deputy Prime Minister Pal Csaky promised that the Slovak government would not put any obstacles in the way of a proposed Regional News Service for the Carpathian Basin television broadcast from Hungary into the Hungarian-occupied areas of southern Slovakia. (British Broadcasting Corporation 6/29/00) |
| Jul 12, 2000 |
The Slovak cabinet approved a parliament-sponsored amendment to the Constitution which would have created the office of ombudsman as a public protector of human and civil rights, among other things. The SMK did not back the amendment because it did not change the preamble of the constitution or transfer land of unknown owners to local municipalities. Amending the constitution required the support of at least 90 deputies of the 150-seat parliament. The ruling coalition - which included the SMK - contained 91 deputies. (CTK News Wire 7/12/00) |
| Aug 2006 |
Claims of physical assault issued by a Hungarian student, Hedviga Malinova, against two Slovak men led to a two-week investigation that was later dropped by the prosecution, suspecting that Malinova had lied about the incident. (US Department of State. 03/06/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2006: Slovak Republic." Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.) |
| Aug 26 - 26, 2006 |
Three men were arrested at a soccer match after they displayed signs calling for "death to Hungarians". (US Department of State. 03/06/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2006: Slovak Republic." Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.) |
| Sep 18, 2006 |
Authorities expelled Laszlo Toroczkai, leader of the HVIM Hunagarian organization, from the Slovak Republic for the duration of five years after he read a protest statement in front of the Interior Ministry. (Kirby, Mandy, 9/18/2006, "Hungarian Nationalist Leader Expelled from Slovakia," Global Insight) |
