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Romanian Academy marks Treaty of Trianon centennial
The Romanian Academy marked on Thursday in a festive meeting of its Presidium a century since the signing of the Treaty of Trianon by which the union of Transylvania with Romania was internationally recognized, the high forum says in a release .
"Although the Romanian Academy - like other institutions in the country and the world - could not duly honor the importance, a century later, of the Treaty of Trianon-Paris, the high forum brings before the nation its tribute of gratitude to all those great statesmen, Romanians and foreigners, who have built modern Romania, united by the will of the Romanian people. The important thing is to not forget their sacrifice and to carry on the message of justice, peace and understanding," the source reads.
The Great Union accomplished by the Romanian people in 1918, needed - as in the case of similar acts undertaken by the Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Poles, Slovenians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, etc. - an international legitimacy, which was achieved in 1919-1920, through the five peace treaties concluded in Paris.
The treaty with Hungary, the last of them, signed at Trianon Palace on 4 June 1920, enshrined the break-up of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the formation of independent states or the wholeness of others. Among these newly turned whole states was Romania, whose western border acquired recognition under the said treaty.
According to the Academy, the Romanian decision to unite Transylvania with Romania was made on the basis of the application of the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination, recognized by the international community, following the initiative of the American President Woodrow Wilson.
"The peace treaties between the allied and associated powers, on the one hand, and Austria and Hungary, on the other hand, have done nothing but formalise - not without certain difficulties - the resolutions of the Romanian, Polish, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, etc. peoples, which represented ethno-demographic majorities in the territories separated from the former empire. Obviously, for the Hungarian elite, the break-up of Austria-Hungary and the reduction of independent Hungary to its ethnic borders meant a great loss and caused great frustration, which, in some circles, has not yet died out," the Academy release says.
On the other hand, the international recognition, in 1920, at Trianon, of the decisions of the former subject peoples, who came to live after 1918 in their own independent states, has been always confirmed by the new treaties concluded in the period after the WW II and until today.
"Thus, the Romanian people, without enjoying anyone's sadness, are free to celebrate their historical fulfillment, the recognition of their righteousness, together with the justice of other peoples in the vicinity, engaged today in the construction of the new united Europe," the Romanian Academy's release adds.