Post by yeni on Sept 12, 2008 16:50:31 GMT -5
www.politics.hu/20080912/hungarian-president-calls-remarks-by-slovak-minister-outrageous
September 12, 2008, 16:52 CET
news
Hungarian president calls remarks by Slovak minister "outrageous"
By MTI
The Slovak education minister's position that ethnic Hungarians should not speak their mother tongue in public is insufferable, Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom said in Piestany, Slovakia, on Friday.
Solyom spoke at a summit meeting of presidents of the Visegrad Four countries, following remarks made to parliament by Slovak Education Minister Jan Mikolaj (Slovak National Party) on Thursday.
Mikolaj had commented on a survey* indicating that over 60 percent of 15-year-olds believed that Hungarians had no right to speak their own language in public. "There is logic in that view," he said, "for the (Slovak) children may want to understand what their fellow citizens not speaking the official language are saying."
"In a country where ten percent of residents are Hungarian, it is outrageous to say that the Hungarians should not speak their own tongue," Solyom said.
Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic said during the summit that relations between Slovakia and Hungary were "not adversarial" but he ruled out an official meeting with his Hungarian counterpart in the near future.
*btw the survey is interesting
It polled Slovak teenagers and among them 63,3 % thinks Hungarians should only speak Hungarian at home, 57,7 think Slovakia is the country of the Slovaks and it should remain this and 37,7 % hates the Hungarians (the 2nd most hated r Gypsies).
More about that poll:
in Hun: index.hu/politika/kulfold/skhun4511/
In Slovak: www.sme.sk/c/4034411/skoly-budu-ucit-tolerancii.html
and spravy.pravda.sk/prieskum-o-vnimani-madarov-bol-pre-skoly-ffa-/sk_domace.asp?c=A080903_160109_sk_domace_p23
September 12, 2008, 16:52 CET
news
Hungarian president calls remarks by Slovak minister "outrageous"
By MTI
The Slovak education minister's position that ethnic Hungarians should not speak their mother tongue in public is insufferable, Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom said in Piestany, Slovakia, on Friday.
Solyom spoke at a summit meeting of presidents of the Visegrad Four countries, following remarks made to parliament by Slovak Education Minister Jan Mikolaj (Slovak National Party) on Thursday.
Mikolaj had commented on a survey* indicating that over 60 percent of 15-year-olds believed that Hungarians had no right to speak their own language in public. "There is logic in that view," he said, "for the (Slovak) children may want to understand what their fellow citizens not speaking the official language are saying."
"In a country where ten percent of residents are Hungarian, it is outrageous to say that the Hungarians should not speak their own tongue," Solyom said.
Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic said during the summit that relations between Slovakia and Hungary were "not adversarial" but he ruled out an official meeting with his Hungarian counterpart in the near future.
*btw the survey is interesting
It polled Slovak teenagers and among them 63,3 % thinks Hungarians should only speak Hungarian at home, 57,7 think Slovakia is the country of the Slovaks and it should remain this and 37,7 % hates the Hungarians (the 2nd most hated r Gypsies).
More about that poll:
in Hun: index.hu/politika/kulfold/skhun4511/
In Slovak: www.sme.sk/c/4034411/skoly-budu-ucit-tolerancii.html
and spravy.pravda.sk/prieskum-o-vnimani-madarov-bol-pre-skoly-ffa-/sk_domace.asp?c=A080903_160109_sk_domace_p23