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Székely Land | |
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 The historical Székely seats on the map of present-day Romania | |
| Country |  Romania |
TheSzékely Land[1][2] orSzeklerland[3] (Hungarian:Székelyföld,pronounced[ˈseːkɛjføld],Székely runes: 𐲥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗𐳌𐳞𐳖𐳇;Romanian:Ținutul Secuiesc and sometimesSecuimea;German:Szeklerland;Latin:Terra Siculorum)[4] is a historic and ethnographic area in present-dayRomania, inhabited mainly bySzékelys, a subgroup ofHungarians.[5][6] Its cultural centre is the city ofTârgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely), the largest settlement in the region.[4]
Székelys (or Szeklers) live in the valleys and hills of theEastern Carpathian Mountains, corresponding mostly to the present-dayHarghita,Covasna, and parts ofMureș counties in Romania.
Originally, the nameSzékely Land denoted the territories of a number ofautonomous Székely seats withinTransylvania. The self-governing Székely seats had their own administrative system,[7] and existed as legal entities from medieval times until the 1870s. The privileges of the Székely andSaxonseatswere abolished and seats were replaced with counties in 1876.
Along with Transylvania and eastern parts ofHungary proper, the Székely Land became a part of Romania in 1920, in accordance with theTreaty of Trianon. In August 1940, as a consequence of theSecond Vienna Award,northern territories of Transylvania, including the Székely Land, were returned toHungary. Northern Transylvania came under the control of Soviet and Romanian forces in 1944,[8][9][10] and were confirmed as part of Romania by theParis Peace Treaties signed 1947 after World War II.
Under the nameMagyar Autonomous Region, withTârgu Mureș as capital,[11] parts of the Székely Land enjoyed a certain level of autonomy between 8 September 1952 and 16 February 1968.
There areterritorial autonomy initiatives with the aim to obtain self-governance for this region within Romania.
Szekely Land is located in the middle of modern-day Romania, in eastern Transylvania. Its historical extent and present-day boundaries—set by the administrative divisions of Romania—are dissimilar.
The exact territory of the present-day Székely Land is not disputed. According to Minahan its territory is approximately 16,943 square kilometres (6,542 sq mi),[4] though the autonomy proposal of theSzekler National Council consists of about 13,000 km2. This size is close to the extent of the historical Székely Land, though it does not containAranyos Seat. TheUDMR's autonomy project covers a slightly bigger territory. It includes the whole territories of Mureș, Harghita, and Covasna counties.
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Transylvania was populated byThracian peoples in theFirst Iron Age. The area received a large influx ofScythians from the East in the first half of the first millennium BC. TheCelts appeared in Transylvania in the La Tène period (c. 4th century BC).
Dacian culture presence in southeastern Transylvania is marked by discoveries such as the flagship hoard Sâncrăieni (Harghita county) or Dacian fortresses in Covasna county (Cetatea Zânelor) or Jigodin (Harghita county).
Dacian Kingdom led by Decebal, was taken after two wars, in 106 AD by the Roman Empire under the emperor Trajan, who began organizing the new Roman province of Dacia. Southeastern Transylvania was included in the provinces of Dacia Porolissensis, Dacia Apulensis and Meuse and fortified with numerous camps such as those at Inlăceni ( Praetoria Augusta) and Sânpaul (Harghita county) Breţcu (Angustia) and Oltenia (Covasna county) or Brâncoveneşti and Călugăreni (Mureș county).
After the fall ofRoman Dacia, the present-day territory of the Székely Land became part of the Thervingi kingdom"Gutthiuda". The migration of theHuns from the east pressured most of the German tribes to leave. In theBattle of Nedao the East GermanicGepids defeated the Huns and founded Gepidia in the territory of present-day Transylvania. This marked the end of theHunnic Empire.
The territory of the Székely Land was part of theAvar Khaganate[citation needed]. During this period, Avar and Slavic groups migrated into Transylvania[citation needed]. From around 900 to 1526 the area was under the direct control of the Hungarian state[citation needed]. The Székelys presumably settled in Transylvania in the 12th century from present dayBihar andBihor counties[citation needed].
Ancient Hungarian legends suggest a connection between the Székelys and Attila's Huns[citation needed]. Theorigin of the Székely people is still debated. TheSzékely seats were the traditional self-governing territorial units of the Transylvanian Székelys during medieval times[citation needed]. (Saxons were also organised in seats.) The Seats were not part of the traditional Hungarian county system, and their inhabitants enjoyed a higher level of freedom (especially until the 18th century) than those living in the counties[citation needed].
From the 12th and 13th centuries, the Székely Land enjoyed a considerable but varying amount of autonomy, first as a part of theKingdom of Hungary, then inside thePrincipality of Transylvania[citation needed]. The autonomy was largely due to the military service the Székely provided until the beginning of the 18th century[citation needed]. The medieval Székely Land was an alliance of the seven autonomous Székelyseats ofUdvarhely,Csík,Maros,Sepsi,Kézdi,Orbai andAranyos. The number of seats later decreased to five, whenSepsi,Kézdi andOrbai seats were united into one territorial unit calledHáromszék (literallyThree seats)[citation needed].
The main seat was Udvarhely seat, which was also called the Principal seat (Latin:Capitalis Sedes)[12] AtSzékelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc) were held many national assemblies of the Székelys[13] A known exception is the 1554 assembly, which took place at Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureș)[14]
Due to the Ottoman conquest Transylvania became a semi-independent polity. From the end of the 17th century,Transylvania became part of theHabsburg monarchy (laterAustrian Empire), and governed by imperial governors.[15] In 1848 during the Hungarian revolution and freedom war it was declared the reunion of Hungary proper and Transylvania. The Austrian emperor incited the Romanians and Serbians living in Hungary and Transylvania against the Hungarians, promising them some kind of autonomy. In 1867, as a result of theAustro-Hungarian Compromise, Transylvania become again an integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary, withinAustria-Hungary.
In 1876, ageneral administrative reform abolished all the autonomous areas in the Kingdom of Hungary and created a unified system of counties. As a result, the autonomy of the Székely Land came to an end as well. Four counties were created in its place:Udvarhely,Háromszék,Csík, andMaros-Torda. (Only half of the territory ofMaros-Torda originally belonged to the Székely Land.) The isolatedAranyosszék became a district ofTorda-Aranyos county.
In December 1918, in the wake of theFirst World War, Romanian delegates from throughout Transylvaniavoted to join the Kingdom of Romania. There was an attempt inUdvarhely to found a "Székely republic" on 9 January 1919; however, its creation was unsuccessful.[16] In 1920, by theTreaty of Trianon, Transylvania along with further territories was officially ceded to theKingdom of Romania. TheRomanian language officially replaced Hungarian in the Székely Land, but Székely county boundaries were preserved, and Székely districts were able to elect their own officials at local level and to preserve Hungarian-language education.
After 1930, the Romanian authorities began toRomanianize the Hungarian population of the Székely Land,[17] with the presence of minorities in political life being repressed.[18] The election of Hungarians was consistently nullified.[18] The place-names were subjected to Romanianization.[18] The minority languages were excised from official life and the local authorities were mostly led by appointed ethnic Romanians.[18]
In 1940, as a result of theSecond Vienna Award,Northern Transylvania became part of Hungary again; this territory included most of the historical Székely areas. Hungarian authorities subsequently restored the pre-Trianon structure with slight modifications.[citation needed]Ion Gigurtu's antisemitic laws, the Romanian version ofNuremberg Laws, were replaced by Hungarian ones. The Jews of the Székely Land were subjected to particularly harsh treatment. These individuals had their citizenship status reviewed, many of them being detained. InCsíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc), dozens of families were rounded up and expelled. The men in the area were drafted intoforced labor battalions.[19] For example, 1,200 Jewish males ofMarosvásárhely (Târgu Mureș) were conscripted between 1941 and 1944; over half died in Ukraine, Poland and Hungary.[20]
However, despite discrimination and many casualties, most of the community lived in relative safety until the March 1944occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany. A conference devoted to the concentration of Jews in the Székely Land was held on 28 April 1944; it covered the counties of Csík, Háromszék, Maros-Torda and Udvarhely. The area's Jews wereghettoized inSzászrégen (Reghin),Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfântu Gheorghe) and Marosvásárhely. Roundups began on 3 May 1944 and were completed within a week. The Hungarian authorities actively participated in the crimes of the Nazis. The Jews ghettoized at Sepsiszentgyörgy were later sent to Szászrégen, whence on 4 June 1944, 3,149 were boarded on a train bound for theAuschwitz concentration camp. Three transports left Marosvásáhely for Auschwitz: on 27 May, 30 May and 8 June 1944; altogether, they carried 7,549 Jews.[19]
On 12 September 1944, the Second Vienna Award was voided by theAllied Commission through the Armistice Agreement with Romania, and the Romanian-Soviet forces seized the area in Autumn 1944; however, the Romanian administration was expelled from these territories in October due to the activities of the Romanian paramilitary groups created in the area to avenge the atrocities committed by the Hungarians against the Romanians during the Hungarian rule in Northern Transylvania.[21][22] For instance, the so-calledIuliu Maniu Guards terrorized the Székely villages, butchered the local Hungarians by axe and hatchet[1] and operated a death camp inFeldioara.[23][24][25] This paramilitary group was described as "a band of terrorist-chauvinistic criminals"[26] by the Soviets. The USSR let the Romanian authorities back to the area in March 1945,[21] and theParis Peace Treaties officially returned Northern Transylvania to Romania.
Following the Northern Transylvania's return to Romania afterWorld War II, aMagyar Autonomous Region was created in 1952 under the Soviets' pressure,[27][28] which encompassed most of the land inhabited by the Székelys. In 1960, the region was renamed to Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region. It was abolished in 1968, when Romania, following anadministrative reform, returned to its traditional local administrative system based oncounties. Roughly speaking, present-dayHarghita County encompasses the formerUdvarhely andCsík, the latter includingGyergyószék;Covasna County covers more or less the territory of the formerHáromszék; and what was onceMaros-Torda is mostly part of present-dayMureș County. The formerAranyosszék is today divided betweenCluj andAlba counties.
Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power in 1965. For the next couple of decades, due to theRomanianization efforts, a large number[quantify] of ethnic Romanians settled in the Székely Land.[29] Those Székely Hungarians who possessed degrees were subjected to resettlement.[29]In March 1990,the city of Târgu Mureș witnessed violent clashes between ethnic Romanian and Hungarian groups.
After the fall ofcommunism, many[who?] hoped that the formerMagyar Autonomous Region, abolished byNicolae Ceauşescu's regime, would soon be restored. This did not happen; however, there are Székely autonomy initiatives[30][31] and further efforts from Székely organisations to reach a higher level of self-governance for the Székely Land within Romania.
On 4 June 2005, theCivic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș was founded in Miercurea Ciuc. It is an organization aimed at organizing the ethnic Romanian population in the counties that compose Székely Land.[32]
On 2 February 2009, Romanian PresidentTraian Băsescu met the Hungarian PresidentLászló Sólyom in Budapest and discussed the issues of minority rights and regional autonomy. Băsescu stated "The Hungarian minority will never be given territorial autonomy."[33]
In 2014, theUDMR and theHungarian Civic Party had a joint autonomy proposal for the Székely Land, but theSzekler National Council also possessed its own suggestion.
In 2016,Hans G. Klemm, theUnited States Ambassador to Romania, together with other local officials, were pictured with a Székely flag during his visit to the Székely Land. The photo was posted by the mayor ofSfântu Gheorghe onFacebook. The reactions of the politicians in Bucharest were turbulent. In a response Klemm affirmed that the only two flags that are important to him, as a diplomat, are the U.S. and the Romanian ones.[34][35][36]
Article 1 of theRomanian Constitution defines the country as a "sovereign, independent, unitary and indivisible national state." It has often been argued[by whom?] that, as a result of this provision, any ethnic-based territorial autonomy, including that of the Székely Land, would be unconstitutional.
TheSupreme Council of National Defence of Romania declared that an autonomy of the so-called Székely Land would be unconstitutional.[37]
In 2002 the estimated ethnic composition of the Székely Land (Mureș, Covasna and Harghita counties) consisted of Hungarians (66%), Romanians (29%), Germans (1%) andRoma (4%).[4] The area forms aHungarianethnic enclave within present-dayRomania.[1][5]
The population of the historical Székely Land (according to the 2002 census) is 409,000, 312,043 of them Hungarians, accounting for 76.65% of the total.[38] The Hungarians represent 59% of the populations of Harghita, Covasna and Mureș counties. The percentage of Hungarians is higher in Harghita and Covasna (84.8% and 73.58% respectively), and lower in Mureș County, (38.82%).
According to the 2011 official census, 570,033 Hungarians (53.22%) live in the counties of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș (out of a total population of 1,071,890 inhabitants). In Mureș county the Romanians have a slight majority (52.6%), while in the counties of Covasna and Harghita, the Hungarians make up the majority (79.6% and 85.9%).[39][40] The 2011 census compared to the data of the previous census (2002) also shows that the Romanian ethnic ratio in the Székely Land has been decreasing (due to emigration).[41]
Târgu Mureș is the home for the largest community of Hungarians in Romania (60,669 in 2011), but the town itself has a Romanian majority (69,702 out of 134,290 inhabitants).[42]
Important centers of the Székely Land are Târgu-Mureș (Marosvásárhely),Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda),Sfântu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy), andOdorheiu Secuiesc (Székelyudvarhely).
| Romania according to ethnic group inHarghita,Covasna andMureș (Censuses 1930–2021) Source: National Institute of Statistics -INS Romania[43] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ethnic group | 1930 | 1956 | 1966 | 1977 | 1992 | 2002 | 2011 | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | Harghita | Covasna | Mureș | |||
| Hungarians | % | 86.61 | 76.69 | 41.59 | 89.55 | 79.07 | 45.18 | 88.14 | 79.43 | 44.46 | 85.07 | 78.45 | 44.31 | 84.72 | 75.24 | 41.42 | 84.65 | 73.82 | 39.31 | 85.21 | 73.74 | 38.09 | 85.67 | 71.77 | 35.58 | |
| Pop | 216,615 | 116,961 | 176,990 | 245,300 | 136,388 | 231,875 | 248,886 | 140,472 | 249,675 | 277,587 | 156,120 | 268,251 | 295,104 | 175,502 | 252,651 | 276,038 | 164,158 | 228,275 | 257,707 | 150,468 | 200,858 | 232,157 | 133,444 | 165,014 | ||
| Total | % | 61.65 | 63.94 | 62.60 | 62.08 | 60.70 | 59.20 | 58.91 | 57.63 | |||||||||||||||||
| Pop | 510,566 | 613,563 | 639,033 | 701,958 | 723,257 | 668,471 | 609,033 | 530,615 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Romanians | % | 9.99 | 19.94 | 43.55 | 9.38 | 18.21 | 47.49 | 11.07 | 19.28 | 49.57 | 13.73 | 19.57 | 49.10 | 14.05 | 23.40 | 52.05 | 14.07 | 23.29 | 53.27 | 12.96 | 22.06 | 52.60 | 12.41 | 22.99 | 54.42 | |
| Pop | 24,996 | 30,405 | 185,367 | 25,694 | 31,416 | 243,720 | 31,272 | 34,099 | 278,386 | 44,794 | 38,948 | 297,205 | 48,948 | 54,586 | 317,541 | 45,870 | 51,790 | 309,375 | 39,196 | 45,021 | 277,372 | 33,634 | 42,752 | 252,400 | ||
| Total | % | 29.07 | 31.35 | 33.68 | 33.69 | 35.34 | 36.05 | 34.98 | 35.71 | |||||||||||||||||
| Pop | 240,768 | 300,830 | 343,757 | 380,947 | 421,075 | 407,035 | 361,589 | 328,786 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Romani | % | 1.08 | 2.02 | 4.10 | 0.55 | 2.00 | 2.69 | 0.49 | 0.83 | 2.03 | 0.99 | 1.77 | 3.31 | 1.10 | 1.13 | 5.70 | 1.18 | 2.69 | 6.96 | 1.76 | 4.05 | 8.90 | 1.82 | 5.11 | 9.68 | |
| Pop | 2,702 | 3,080 | 17,444 | 1,514 | 3,450 | 13,804 | 1,390 | 1,465 | 11,402 | 3,228 | 3,522 | 20,019 | 3,827 | 2,641 | 34,798 | 3,835 | 5,973 | 40,425 | 5,326 | 8,267 | 46,947 | 4,928 | 9,507 | 44,880 | ||
| Total | % | 2.80 | 1.96 | 1.40 | 2.37 | 3.46 | 4.45 | 5.86 | 6.44 | |||||||||||||||||
| Pop | 23,226 | 18,768 | 14,257 | 26,769 | 41,266 | 50,233 | 60,540 | 59,315 | ||||||||||||||||||
The following is a list of the most known high schools of each city:
Those initalic have the Romanian language as their medium of instruction.
The Székely ice hockey team Sport Club of Csíkszereda, with mainly home trained, local players (Székelys), plays simultaneously in the Erste League (Hungarian League) and in the Romanian Ice Hockey Championship. Starting with the 2010/2011 season, the Sport Club ice hockey team participated at the championships under the nameHSC Csíkszereda and that year it won its first Erste League title as well.
The team's main achievements so far:The Romanian Championship (fifteen times winner): 1949, 1952, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.The Romanian Cup (ten times winner): 1950, 1952, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014.Pannonian League (one-time winner): 2004.Erste League (one-time winner): 2011.[54]
The majority of the Romanian men's national ice hockey team consist of Székely players. The national team are ranked 28th in the 2010 IIHF World Rankings and currently compete in Division IIA.
TheSzékely Land football team represents the Székely Land inConIFA competitions.
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...the Szekler community, now regarded as a subgroup of the Hungarian people.
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