Gyergyószentmiklós/Gheorgheni is the first settlement in Szeklerland to protect its townhall inscription, the president of the Székely Figyelő Foundation Zsolt Árus has announced. The town is resisting a series of legal attacks launched by the ADEC association led by the infamous blogger Dan Tanasă.
The first lawsuit challenging the legality of Hungarian inscriptions on the mayor’s office of settlements with a Hungarian-majority population was launched roughly five years ago, Árus reminds us. The Tanasa-led association (which recently entered the spotlight as one of the organizations fostering the forceful inauguration of the illegally erected concrete crosses in the Úz Valley military graveyard) first targeted the “townhall” inscription on the Csíkkozmás/Cozmeni Mayor’s Office, followed by Csíkdánfalva/Dănești, Csíkmadaras/Mădăraș, Csíkszereda/Miercurea Ciuc, Korond/Corund, Székelykeresztúr/Cristuru Secuiesc, Tusnádfürdõ/Băile Tușnad and Csíkszépvíz/Frumoasa.
Tanasa declared war against all Hungarian symbols visible on and in the buildings of local authorities in Szeklerland, and it was expected that a “kind request” to remove all such symbols and inscriptions from the city hall of Gyergyószentmiklós would be received. The city mayor received the letter from the association in 2018, but since these symbols don’t violate Romanian law, he decided not to comply with the request, knowing that the local authority led by him would soon face a lawsuit filed by the ADEC association.
After two years in court, the Gyergyószentmiklós local authority found support in the panel of judges of the Appeals Court of Bucharest: they upheld the defense and, overturning the judgment on first hearing, found that the plaintiff Civic Association in Europe (ADEC) had no interest in the case and dismissed the removal of the inscription without a substantive examination. The ruling is legally binding.
This ruling marks the first legal block of the crusade launched by the ADEC association and will hopefully serve as an example for the rest of the local authorities in Szeklerland, especially in settlements where the majority of the population is ethnic Hungarian.
Title image: The Gyergyószentmiklós/Gheorgheni town hall. Image credit: Természet Baráti Kör
