Toronto Sun, avocatul iredentismului maghiar

Bush gets it right
U.S. knows a nation when it sees one
By ERIC MARGOLIS, TORONTO SUN

"By contrast, it was noteworthy that Romania refused to join Britain, France, Germany and Italy in recognizing the new Kosova republic.
That's because Romania also has its own dirty secret. The post-First World War Treaty of Trianon was every bit as evil and immoral as the 1938 Munich Pact. At Trianon, the victorious allies handed over 66% of the Hungarian people to Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Romania got the lion's share, including Transylvania. Hungarians want freedom from Romania. "

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http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/2008/02/24/pf-4872229.html

Asteptam reactia reprezentantilor MAE.

Pana atunci, postez aici

CE ZIC ROMANII DIN CANADA:

Domnilor politicieni si ziaristi,

va semnalez un articol aparut in Toronto Sun.
Cred ca mai ales politicienii, MAE evident, trebuie sa faca ceva prin intermediul amabasadei de la Ottawa si consulatului din Toronto. Cititi si va minunati.
http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/2008/02/24/pf-4872229.html
Va atasez si citeva din raspunsurile noastre. Marea majoritate nu ne cunoastem intre noi, locuim cu totii in Toronto dar nu ne stim. Doar ne-am suparat cu totii si deodata.

E dincolo de orice indoiala ca acum se face propaganda. La fel, dincolo de orice indoiala, Romania nu face nici un fel de propaganda. Pare ca trebuie, altminteri se suie pe noi.

Lucian Mandoiu
Project Engineer
WITTMANN CANADA INC.
Tel: 905-887-5355
Fax: 905-887-1162
E-Mail: lmandoiu@wittmann-canada.com

Hello,

I read your article with huge surprise regarding Romania and Transylvania, which is a former province of Romania, united to the other three (Tara Romaneasca, Moldova and Basarabia) in 1918. Surprised to see that facts are not checked before publication. One fact that should be checked would be in regards to the population of Transylvania. For example, how many Romanians live in Transilvania compared to how many Hungarians? If Transilvania was part of Hungary by right, how is a Romanian majority in that province explained? The Romanians outnumbered the Hungarians by far even in 1918, such that the Hungarians represented 29% of Transylvania's population.
Another fact that should be checked would be Transylvania's history. A kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under a king, Oroles. Under Burebista, the greatest king of Dacia and a contemporary of Julius Caesar, the Dacian kingdom reached its maximum extent. The area now constituting Transylvania was the political center or heartland of Dacia. Therefore, the Dacians lived in Transylvania before the Romans conquered them, and the capital of the Dacia was set in Transylvania, at Sarmizegetusa Regia, county Hunedoara. In 101-102 Trajan began a military campaign (Dacian Wars) against the Dacians which included the siege of the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa and the occupation of part of the country. Decebalus was left as a client king under a Roman protectorate. Three years later, the Dacians rebelled and destroyed the Roman troops in Dacia. The second campaign (105-106) ended with the suicide of Decebalus and the conversion of parts of Dacia into the Roman province Dacia Trajana. The history of the Dacian Wars is given in Dio Cassius, but the best commentary upon it is the famous Column of Trajan in Rome.
The Romans exploited the gold mines in the province extensively, building access roads and forts, such as Abrud to protect them, The region developed a strong infrastructure and economy, based on agriculture, cattle farming and mining. Colonists from Thracia, Moesia, Macedonia, Gaul, Syria, and other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land, developing cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia) and Napoca (now Cluj Napoca) into municipiums and colonias.
The result of mixing Dacians with Romans in Dacia was the formation of Romanians. As it is obvious, Romanian was spoken in Dacia for centuries before the Magyars (Hungarians predecessors) came in the to live in nowadays Hungary. As always with European countries and nations, it is easy to make huge mistakes if one looks only at a portion of their history. Therefore, before commenting on nowadays history in Europe should take into account thousands of years of history before jumping into not founded conclusions.

I hope next time an article about Romania and generally, European, Asian, American nations is published, history is checked first. I also hope that you will publish some facts about Romania now, checking the facts above mentioned and apologizing for the mistakes in the article "Bush gets it right" published on Feb 24, 2008.

Thank you,
Iuliana Baciu, one of the 9 million Romanian from 12 million Transylvanians and Canadian

Regarding the article “Bush Gets It Right”, published in Toronto Sun on Feb 24, 2008 (http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/2008/02/24/pf-4872229.html),

I’d like to set a few things straight:

First and foremost: Mr. Eric Margolis should do his homework before issuing such inept statements about both Kosovo and Romania.
If he had done his research properly, he would have known that
1) Regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong in Kosovo, the US along with Germany, France, etc recognized the so called republic of Kosovo in flagrant violation of the international law, the same law that they claim to uphold whenever it serves their petty interests. What if New York’s Chinatown proclaimed its independence by ethnic criteria? It would be exactly the same situation – a territory that is rightfully a part of US, but 98% inhabited by Chinese people.
2) While people of Hungarian origin, as well as German, Serb, and others, live in today’s Transilvania, the majority of the population is and has ever been Romanian.
3) The only period during which Transylvania was part of Hungary was a mere 51 years between 1867 and 1918. The province of Transilvania has never been “stolen” from Hungary, as the author implies, but rather returned to its rightful place after a brief Hungarian occupation.
4) The territory in question has been a part of the Dacian kingdom as far back as two millennia ago, then the Roman occupation took place and, mixing with the natives generated the Romanian people. Some of the main cities in Transilvania (for example Napoca – today’s Cluj, and Apulum – today’s Alba Iulia) have been established by the Romans almost two millennia ago, and not in the least by any Hungarian entity.
5) The province was occupied by the Hungarian tribes during the 11th century. The Decree of Turda (1376) openly called for "to expel or to exterminate in this country malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians".
6) The Romania ruler Mihai Viteazu (Michael the Brave) managed to wrest Transilvania out of the Hungarian occupation and reunite all three Romanian provinces in year 1600, only to be assassinated by the Habsburg (i.e. Austrian) military a year later.
7) By the peace of Vienna (1606) the occupying power denied almost all rights to the Romanian orthodox community, although the latter was still representing a majority.
8) After the battle of Vienna (1683), the Austrian empire ruled by the Habsburg family extended its influence and occupation over Transilvania. From 1711 onward, the princes of Transylvania were replaced with Austrian governors and in 1765 Transylvania was declared a grand principality.
9) In 1848, warfare erupted in November with both Romanian and Saxon troops, under Austrian command, battling the Hungarians led by the Polish general Joszef Bem. Bem’s army was decisively defeated at Timisoara in 1949. Having quashed the revolution, Austria imposed a repressive regime on Hungary, ruled Transylvania directly through a military governor and granted citizenship to the Romanians.
10) The only period when Transilvania, although still having a mostly Romanian population, was ruled by Hungarians –– began with the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867, when the province was incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary, and ended in 1918 after a mere 51 years of Hungarian occupation.

Now, that the historical facts are clear, let us point out that, although many Hungarians dream about snatching Transilvania back from its mother country Romania, and although it is known that those Hungarians managed to intensely lobby the US congress and launch a heavy and dirty propaganda to serve their hidden agenda, we as Romanians are sad to see that people of our adoptive country Canada can prove themselves as spineless as Mr. Eric Margolis, and as reckless as the editor who published the article. If Mr. Margolis has any decency, I’m convinced that he will find a way to apologize to the Romanian community for his gross twisting of the historical truth.

Regards,

Mihai Singer, Toronto