Three leading Hungarian-American organizations issued a strongly worded statement to alert public opinion and decision-makers to recent, negative developments in Slovakia. The authors call upon concerned individuals and organizations worldwide to join the campaign protesting the Slovak authorities' recent anti-Hungarian measures by SIGNING THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT. STATEMENT ON RECENT POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN SLOVAKIA We, the undersigned, view with concern the escalation of overtly nationalistic, anti-Hungarian actions and rhetoric by the Slovak government. After his election in July 2006, Prime Minister Robert Fico of SMER sent an unmistakable message with his choice of coalition partners: ultra-nationalist Jan Slota of the Slovak National Party (SNS) and Vladimir Meciar of the Peoples’ Party-Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), and soon, a campaign of inflammatory anti-Hungarian rhetoric began to be heard in Slovakia. In spite of repeated warnings by the European Parliament and EU to distance himself from his partners, Mr. Fico provided tacit approval for blatantly anti-Hungarian sentiments that eventually led to violence against ethnic Hungarians. On August 25, 2006, a Hungarian university student, Hedvig Malina, was viciously attacked by two unidentified male assailants in Nitra (Nyitra) for speaking Hungarian, her native language, in public. In the past 14 months, Ms. Hedvig has faced a legal nightmare: she, the victim, has become the accused; Mr. Fico, ignoring all legal standards, provoked public sentiment against her; and her continued prosecution has raised serious doubts about the independence of both the Slovak police and the judicial system as documented by the attached background report prepared by HHRF. In September 2007, the Slovak Parliament passed by an overwhelming majority a resolution on the inviolability of the infamous post-Word War II Benes Decrees. In 1945, as President of the Czechoslovak Republic, Eduard Benes, had passed a series of laws which declared the collective guilt of the Germans and Hungarians living in their ancestral homeland, which had been annexed to the territory of Czechoslovakia. On the basis of these decrees, approximately 2.5 million German inhabitants were expelled, some 200,000 Hungarians were deported from South Slovakia to the Czech Lands and in 1947, about 100,000 Hungarians were transferred to Hungary. These articles of the Benes Decrees are based on right-wing totalitarian ideologies; they charge peoples and national groups with collective guilt on the basis of their ethnicity, without guaranteeing a right to self-defense. Thus, just as elderly Hungarians gathered last month for solemn commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the inhumanities caused by the Benes Decrees, the Slovak government declared before the world that in ethnic tolerance very little progress has been made in the past 60 years. A detailed background report on the Benes Decrees prepared by HHRF is attached. Today, the 526,000-strong historic Hungarian community of Slovakia represents 10% of the country’s population. To maintain their ethnic identity and to develop future leaders, the Hungarian Coalition Party (HCP) has worked hard to establish the Hungarian language János Selye University in Komárno. While the former Slovak government pledged to provide funding to this institution, the Fico government has not only cut back on funding, but has threatened to limit the university’s efforts to gain accreditation. Other Hungarian educational and cultural institutions have also faced such severe cuts in funds that their very existence is threatened. For example, this year the Fico government cut in half the 160 million Kr assistance to minority cultures, thereby reversing the hard-won reforms of 2005. The undersigned organizations view with genuine alarm the above described events. Many of our members hail from the Hungarian communities of Slovakia and are particularly interested in monitoring developments there. We urge all organizations and individuals who are concerned with these recent developments to sign this statement and encourage their representatives in the US Congress to send a strong message to the Fico government to discontinue its openly negative and hostile discriminatory policies. We also request the U.S. government to use all diplomatic channels in multilateral institutions as well as in bilateral relations to persuade the Fico government to practice the democratic values of tolerance and respect for ethnic minorities in Slovakia. Maximilian N. Teleki President Hungarian American Coalition László Hámos President Hungarian Human Rights Foundation Mrs. Edith K. Lauer President National Committee of Hungarians from Slovakia Zsolt Szekeres Treasurer Hungarian American Coalition Prof. Károly Nagy Co-President The International Association of Hungarian Language and Culture Miklós Ruszcsák President Hungarian Alumni Association — Bessenyei Circle Dr. Louis Elteto Professor Emeritus Portland State University Kalman Magyar Director American Hungarian Folklore Centrum Somerset, NJ Dr. Peter Pastor President, Center for Hungarian Studies and Publications, Inc. Istvan Deak Seth Low Professor Emeritus of History Columbia University in New York City Prof. Klara Gyorgyey President Writers-In-Exile PEN Center Magyarody Szabolcs Corvinus Publishing Margaret Novak Egetoe Julius Varallyay Zoltan Bagdy Member of HAC and AHF Istvan Teleki Dr. Judith Kesserü Némethy New York University, American Hungarian Educators­ Association, Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris Jules Gyula Balogh President & CEO Hungarian Reformed Federation of America Dr. Ádám Makkai Professor Emeritus of English and Linguistics University of Illinois at Chicago Péter Kovalszki and Maria Repolski,M.D. Edmund Lázár Margaret Molnar Kotnik Lipták Béla  Basa Molnar Enikő Krencsey Marianne Dr. Nemes Gyula Ferencz Ágnes, Deé András (Eger, Hungary), Joseph Ertavy (USA), Haukéné Hüse Katalin (Tiszafüred, Hungary), Dénes Dezső (Espoo, Finnland), Therese Myers (Crownsville, USA), Darren Andrew Moncrief (Cleveland, USA), Ficz Ernő (Csíkszereda, Romania), Dr. Szász Csaba (Kolozsvár, Romania), Rédley Tamás (Hungary), Vizi Zakariás (Kolozsvár, Romania), Péter Zoltán István (Csíkszereda), Bósza János-Autonómia Tanács (Komárom, Szlovákia), Dirbák Erik (Rimaszombat), Házik Zoltán-Polgári Társulások Szövetsége (Rimaszombat), Elzer Anikó (Szőgyén, Szlovákia), Horváth Dezső (Ekel, Szlovákia), Házikné-Garaj Ildikó (Rimaszombat), Dr. Mázik Róbert (Budapest), Törőcsik Attila (Tatabánya), Dr. Pető Lászlóné (Szentes), Lőrincz Tünde (Kolozsvár), Smoling László, Dinnyés József (Budapest), Balogh Krisztián (Győr), Rozsnyai László (Budapest, Kolozsvár), Vajdasági Magyar Demokrata Párt Ifjúsági Tagozata (Szabadka), Törőcsik Attila (Tatabánya), Donogán Péter (Kolozsvár), Benke István (Marosvásárhely), Keresztes György (Gyöngyös), Simon András (Kolozsvár), Csóka Dávid (Gyál) The Hungarian translation of the statement