English: Pitti Katalin // Live on the 10th of March, 2013. The Day of the Székely Freedom. Budapest, at the Romanian Ambassy.

Demonstration organised by the Székelyföldért Társaság (Organisation for the Freedom of the Székely Land, president: György-Mózes Árpád). Demonstrations: Marosvásárhely (postaréti Székely Mártírok Emlékműve/Székely martyrs' sculpture) Budapest, Szolnok, Keszthely, Sárospatak, London, Brussels, Wien, Helsinki, Hágue, Munchen, Stockholm, Zurich, New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Toronto, Ottawa. Poster of the Székelyföldért Társaság in Hungarian and with Székely alphabet (5), Pitti Katalin (8, 9), the Sun and the Moon, symbols of the Székely Land, Székely flag (11).

Sources: The National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada also assured the autonomy demonstrators of its support, Világszerte tüntettek a székely autonómiáért, Izsák: Székelyföldért megmozgatjuk a világot, Tízezrek Székelyföld autonómiájáért (hozzáférés 2013-03-11), http://www.change.org/petitions/government-of-romania-recognize-the-autonomy-of-sz%C3%A9kely-land

Tags: Székely Land 2013 Budapest Romanian Ambassy Pitti Katalin Székelyföldért Társaság Day of Székely Freedom Székely flag demonstrations in 2013

Petitioning Government of Romania: Recognize the Autonomy of Székely Land Petition by Tamás Heizler Budapest, Hungary (hozzáférés: 2013-03-10)

Székely Land (also called Szekler Land in English) is a historical region at the southeastern part of Transylvania, thus locates roughly in the center of today's Romania. The 70-80 % of its population are the Hungarian speaking Székelys (in some towns 97%) and they have an absolutely different culture than the rest of the country. In everyday life they use a dialect of Hungarian language which is not even accepted as an official language as only Romanian is the official language in the whole territory of Romania. Székelys would like to achieve autonomy and self-governance inside Romania. Just the same as South Tyrol and Sicily (in Italy), Vojvodina (in Serbia) and all the Spanish communities in Spain have now. (please check out the facebook group of the Budapest symphaty demonstration) Today the area of Székely Land belongs to three different Romanian counties: almost the whole area of Harghita and Covasna counties and a bit less than the half of Mures county. (there are little parts of Székely Land in other counties too, see figure above) Between 1952 - 1968 this region existed under the name Magyar Autonomous Region, then in 1968 they established counties in Romania, so this region had been divided to the above mentioned 2 and a half counties. Since 2003, Szekler National Council (SZNT) exists which aims to obtain the Autonomy of Székely Land (uniting the Székely areas of these 3 different counties) of which primary official language would be Hungarian and the secondary Romanian. There are also plans for administrative divisions of 8 provinces (see figure above). A Székely flag is also available (today it is not official of course, but widely used in Székely Land and also used by the Szekler National Council). They also have an Anthem (Székely Himnusz), written and composed in 1921. There is also a proposed top-level domain (.sic) and vehicle registration code (SIC), which is used today unofficially as vignette. Marosvásárhely (Targu Mures) is planned to be the capital city. Székely Land does not plan to separate from Romania (as the Romanian media misinterpret it sometimes), they only want to get autonomy and self-governance inside Romania. Today even the fact that this region exists and existed in the history is denied by the Romanian government, although the huge majority of people living in Székely Land define themselves as Székelys, use the Székely flag, sing the Székely anthem and use the Székely dialect of Hungarian language in their everyday life instead of the official Romanian language. Autonomy issues have extraordinary importance today as the Romanian government plans to establish regions which do not follow the borders of Székely Land, what more, it will divide it to 3 parts and situate them to 3 different regions in which Székelys are in approximately 30 % minority. We hope that the European principle will prevail in Romania too, according to that EU does not appoint regions but it accepts the existing ones. Szekler National Council organizes a rally (similar to the Catalonian one) on 10th March in Marosvásárhely (Targu Mures) and Budapest. (see facebook group) This petition aims to be a support of these efforts.

some facts:

-exists since: 13th century

-population of Székely Land: 750,000-800,000 /of that Székelys: 70-80 %

-area: ~ 12,000 km^2 ( ~ Montenegro, Qatar, Jamaica, Puerto Rico)

-subregion of: Transylvania

-names in different languages: Székelyföld (Hungarian), Tinutul Secuiesc (Romanian), Terra Siculorum (Latin), Szekler Land, Székely Land (English),

-religions of Székely Land: Catholic (53 %), Reformed (21 %), Orthodox (17 %), Unitarian (6 %)

-total population of Székelys: ~ 1 million, of that: 550,000 in Székely Land, 180,000 elsewhere in Transylvania, 185,000 in Hungary, 100,000 elsewhere in the world

-capitals of the planned 8 Seats ("szék") (Romanian names in brackets): Marosvásárhely (Targu Mures), Gyergyószentmiklós (Gheorgheni), Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc), Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc), Barót (Baraolt), Kézdivásárhely (Targu Secuiesc), Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfantu Gheorghe), Kovászna (Covasna)