On November 30th, a video appeared on Facebook in which the Hungarian national anthem was sung during an OTG meeting in Transcarpathia. The SBU followed this up and stated that it would verify the footage and search for possible signs of illegal activity. Since the incident became public, it has caused an uproar throughout Ukraine, with public warnings against separatism in Western Ukraine. The video has since been defined as yet another slap in the face of Ukrainians, a blatant sign of disrespect on Ukrainian territory and a resumption of the Ukrainian-Hungarian dispute.
Although it might be up for discussion whether or not an OTG meeting was the most appropriate context for the conduction of the Hungarian national anthem, one does have to pause and think about the disproportionate reaction of outrage and hatred it has triggered throughout Ukraine. Ukrainian Diaspora all over the world has taken it upon itself to stay as loyal to their original nationality as possible. Canada has entire towns that are almost exclusively Ukrainian, there are Ukrainian (orthodox and greek-catholic) churches and the Ukrainian scouting organization (PLAST) has sub-branches in almost every country with an organized Diaspora (Canada, USA, Germany, Belgium, France, etc.).
Ukrainian Diaspora doesn’t shy away from organizing large meetings in honour of its ancestry. In 2007, I attended a Ukrainian scout camp in Canada which hosted thousands and thousands of Ukrainians from all over the world. For two weeks, Ukrainian hymn and songs were sung every day. Imagine if the Canadian government had responded to this with the same anger and aggression as the Ukrainian government had with regard to the Hungarian anthem. It would not be long before other Western countries would have condemned it for its xenophobia and its illegal limitations on the right to freedom of speech, as well as self-determination.
The constant and consistent claims that Hungarians in Western-Ukraine are separatists and trying to illegally occupy and annex Ukrainian territory is a toxic narrative, which will inevitably lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. By distributing and fortifying these claims, Ukrainian media sabotages Ukraine’s aim for unity and alienates both a Western neighbor and part of its own citizens. Although it certainly must be discussed whether or not the conducting of the Hungarian national anthem was appropriate at the time of the OTG meeting, the reaction should remain cool and level-headed, appropriate within the legal framework of protection of minority rights in a European and International judicial context.
The dispute between Hungary and Ukraine with regard to Hungarian minorities in the Transcarpathian region doesn’t need to be reinvigorated by another empty scandal that is based on disproportionate and overly emotional reactions. All sides can agree that there’s no political or diplomatic benefit to having Ukrainian media cry in outrage over something that could – at worst – be seen as a benign discrepancy with the law. All that’s left to do in this situation, is to check what protocol dictates, rectify the situation by informing the involved parties about the legal repercussions of those actions, and then further continue the development and growth of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations towards a more positive and fruitful bilateral understanding.
