“Live in freedom or die for it with courage…”
(Mór Jókai)
Dear Compatriots,
March 10th is Szekler Freedom Day!
We, the executives and members of the National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada stand together in spirit with those who walk along the streets of the former capital of the Szeklerland, Marosvásárhely. With deepest sorrow we bow our heads before those who have been victims of Communism. We also bow our heads in memory of our Székely Martyrs, the brutally murdered victims of the freedom fight for the Szekler independence form the Habsburg oppression. On Moarh 10, 1854 in Marosvásárhely (Postarét), the Habsburgs executed János Bágyi Török, Mihály Martonosi Gálfi, and Károly Nagyváradi Horváth. Later, on 19 April, in the township of Sepsiszentgyörgy, István Bartalis and József Váradi were executed. We designate their names as our Székely Martyrs. We are grateful to our priests Áron Márton and Cardinal Mindszenty who, with the help of God, fought with tremendous faith and courage so that we, in posterity, could live in humanity and freedom. In our thoughts, we pay tribute to the upcoming 60th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. This national heroic struggle opened the road towards the collapse of Communism. Today, for all Hungarians, Szekler Freedom Day must be more than just remembering, it must be a day of Solidarity.
Regardless of which part of the Carpathian Basin you were born, as a member of the National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada, we stand united for the autonomy and national sovereignty of the Szeklerland.
We must work together, so that a monument shall be erected in Marosvásárhely (Postarét), with the inscribed words of the great author Mór Jókai: A “Legitimate, Free and Independent National Resistance”, for the autonomy of Szeklerland. We must work hard that in the 21st century, in Europe’s heart, laws which forbid or ban the use of our ethnic mother-tongue, in an artificially instigated anti-Hungarian environment, will be eliminated, or cannot be labelled in court cases as ethnic reprisals.
Whether in the country of your birth in Europe or somewhere in the world, we can only defend our language and culture if we are free and live in a truly democratic system. Everyone has the right to an independent national life. So, let us adopt Mór Jókai’s words as our slogan for the struggle of Szekler autonomy.