RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 115, 17 June 1998
HUNGARY COMMEMORATES HERO OF 1956 UPRISING. President Arpad
Goncz on 16 June laid a wreath at the grave of former Prime
Minister Imre Nagy, who led the 1956 uprising against Soviet
rule, Hungarian media reported. Some 5,000 Budapest
residents gathered to mark the 40th anniversary of Nagy's
execution. Nagy, who was appointed prime minister after the
uprising broke out, announced the country's withdrawal from
the Warsaw Pact and proclaimed Hungary's neutrality. In
November 1956, he was arrested and sent to Romania, where he
was put under house arrest, before being returned to Hungary
and executed in 1958. In 1989, Nagy was reburied with
honors. Goncz said Nagy's sacrifice should be viewed by
Hungarians as a "source of pride." MSZ
TENSIONS CONTINUE OVER HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY IN
ROMANIA. The parliamentary group of the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania (UDMR) on 16 June decided to submit to
the parliament on 26 June a draft law that would set up a
Hungarian language state university in Transylvania However,
also on 16 June, four members of the group presented a bill
establishing the university, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau
reported. UDMR chairman Bela Marko said the decision two
days earlier of the Cluj Babes Bolyai University Senate to
oppose the government's decision to set up a faculty for
Hungarian language and literature was "an enormous gaffe"
that strengthened the demand for a separate university for
the Hungarian minority. Marko said the UDMR will leave the
coalition if the ruling parties do not respect agreements
that were made when the coalition was formed. MS
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