Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency conference report, dated October 1995, contains the proceedings of a conference on ethnic conflict held 30 September to 1 October 1993. The CIA's Geographic Resources Division sponsored it. Academic geographers, anthropologists and US Government officials presented papers on ethnic and territorial conflict in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia. They also discussed what these conflicts mean for US policy. The document contains no UFO material.
“Terry”12 pages
C00123268 rule. Western Ukrainians are demanding more cultural At high levels in the Hungarian Government, it has and religious autonomy from Ukraine, and this may been made clear to the Slovaks that Hungary does not create some potential for real conflict. As yet, how- claim territory from Slovakia but that it requests that ever, it is. merely cultural and not political and territo- Hungarians in Slovakia be given full citizenship and rial. Even if it were to bring about open conflict, this is rights as a minority. This is the same position held by a purely internal matter and not of any concern for the the Hungarian Government vis a vis Transylvania and Westor nighorinstaes.Vojvodina. But many ethnic Hungarians and lower level political leaders are demanding the "return" of HungarianMinorities. The borders of current Hun- these "Hungarian lands" to Hungary. As a minimal were established after World War I and represent, demand, the Hungarians in Hungary appear to be con- n the eyes of ethnic Hungarians, a diminished state. cerned about the rights of their ethnic brethren in Across those borders are a number of regions with sig- neighboring countries but are not demanding border nificant Hungarian populations. In some, like parts of changes. However-and this is a big however-this southern Slovakia and northern Vojvodina-in north- stance is contingent on fair treatment of Hungarians ern Serbia-the Hungarian population forms the and a continued moderate position of the Hungarian majority of inhabitants. In Romania, Hungarian com- regime. Persecution of Hungarians in any neighboring munities exist throughout western Romania and in country may lead to a severe shift in Budapest's offi- Transylvania-a region with great cultural and histori- cial position. This is now being tested in Vojvodina, cal significance to the Hungarian people. We must where the Serbian Government is relocating Serbs remember that for more than 150 years Hungary was from other areas of Yugoslavia into areas dominated under Ottoman Turkish domination. During that time by ethnic Hungarians and where young Hungarian Transylvania and southern Slovakia, as Hungarian males are subject to the draft and are being sent to the regions, were independent of the Turks. Indeed, dur- war zone in Bosnia. Many Hungarians have fled ing this time Bratislava (Pozsony in Hungarian) was Vojvodina to Hungary. This is leading to a rise in the capital of a free Hungary, and until World War I rightwing Hungarian nationalism that may change the ethnic Hungarians outnumbered Slovaks in this city, official position of the Hungarian Government. The the capital of Slovakia. -impact of Western inaction in Bosnia on the Hungar- ian issues in Vojvodina, Slovakia, and Romania is dis- The division of Czechoslovakia into two states has cussed later in this paper. changed the sectarianism of living in the area.' While Hungarians were not subject to open policies of Sl- Muslim Minorities in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria vakization under the Czech-dominated Czechoslovak After the Ottoman Empire withdrew from the Balkans Government, the situation today is different. The posi- in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number tion of the Slovak Government is that the Hungarians of Islamicized groups remained. Among these were are really Slovaks whose ancestors were forced to Muslim Bosnians (now called Muslimani), Serbs become Hungarians (Magyars) during the 1,000 years (mostly in the Sandzak and Kosovo-Metohija regions of Hungarian rule and therefore should be re-Slovak- of Serbia), Macedonians (called Torbesi), Bulgarians ized. The Hungarians consider southern Slovakia as (called Pomaks), Greeks, and Albanians. 5 Only part of the Kingdom of Hungary historically. Indeed among the Albanians did the Muslim converts form Kossuth, the father of modern Hungarian nationalism, was born in Slovakia (in fact he was a Magyarized J These Muslims should not be confused with ethnic Turks who Slovak). Here we see the use of historical figures and form a distinct ethnic minority in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia and events by ethnic groups as the justification for current Hekzegovisa, Romania, and Greece and who are either the descen- dants of Turks or of mixed Turkish and other ethnic backgrounds. demands on both sides. Their ethnic identity is with Turkey, and they do not consider them- selves to be of local origin. 'The Hungarians saw the Czech majority as advanced and civi- lized as themselves. The Hungarian view of Slovaks as a people is quite different. Slovaks are seen as low in levels of civilization, and the Slovaks are also far more anti-Hungarian than the Czechs. 29
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 205 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.