Under the supervision of their teacher, students in western Ukraine conducted a pig heart dissection for a biology lesson during the weekend.They used a scalpel and forceps to do it. The class was in Hungarian. The students are part of a big group of Hungarian people in Ukraine.
This has caused problems between Hungary and Ukraine. It might make it hard for Ukraine to get money to fight against Russia’s invasion.
Hungarian leader Viktor Orban says Ukraine is not letting students and about 75,000 ethnic Hungarians in Zakarpattia region speak their own language in school and government.
His government has stopped important European Union money for Ukraine and warned that they might make it harder for Ukraine to join the European Union in the future. This has made diplomatic relationships between the two countries very tense.
The argument about language comes from Ukraine wanting to strengthen its national identity after rebels supported by Russia took over two areas in the eastern part of the country in 2014. Also, Russia took control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
In 2017, a law was passed that made Ukrainian the main language in schools after fifth grade. This upset Romanian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian minorities. The law was meant to fight against Russian influence.
In December, Ukraine changed its education and language laws to follow the rules for being part of the EU. This made the Hungarian community in the region very happy.
The new laws basically allowed the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia to keep existing for another 30 years, according to Laszlo Zubanics, who leads a group that represents Hungarian interests in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s government is now trying to include the interests of all groups of people, not just the main one. This is different from before when they mainly focused on building the country.
Many ethnic Hungarians think it’s a good thing that the law changed to let minority groups study in their own languages again. Hungary’s government is not completely happy. This could lead to problems as EU leaders try to convince Orban to change his mind about blocking a 50-billion euro aid package for Kyiv.
The law passed at the end of last year in Ukraine definitely deserves respect. “It helped to stop a bad situation,” said Peter Szijjarto, the Foreign Minister of Hungary, on Monday after meeting with the Foreign Minister of Ukraine in western Ukraine.
However, he said, “We don’t see that the problem of national minorities has been solved at all. We still have a lot of work to do.
After Russia attacked Ukraine, Orban, who is seen as a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been against giving military and financial help to Ukraine and imposing punishment on Moscow. He often uses the Hungarian community as a reason for his not so strong support for Ukraine.
Many Hungarians in Zakarpattia support Orban and also want Kyiv to join the EU. Orban is doubtful about Ukraine joining the EU. He said in November that it is a long way off and he wants Ukraine to guarantee language rights for Hungarians before he supports them.
Zubanics agreed with a letter asking Orban to support Ukraine’s EU membership in December. He is hopeful even though there is tension between Hungary and Ukraine.
“We think of ourselves as being European citizens in our mindset and customs,” he said. “We know that this will take time and it may be difficult for everyone. It won’t happen right away. ”
The government of Hungary has given a lot of money to support the minority in Ukraine, trying to make sure they keep their Hungarian culture and ties to Budapest strong. It made it easier to become a Hungarian citizen, but Ukraine, which does not allow people to have citizenship in two countries, has not liked this.
In a small city called Berehove, in Zakarpattia, near the Hungarian border, the government of Orban helped start a campus for a conservative private school called Matthias Corvinus Collegium. This school has 23 locations in Hungary and nearby countries.
The MCC got more than $1. 5 billion from Hungary’s government and is a place where Orban wants to train the future leaders of the country.
Hungarian students cut up a pig’s heart during a biology class at their school over the weekend. This is part of a special program to help them learn more about biology in Hungarian, which is one of the languages in the public schools in Zakarpattia. They were able to ask questions and get answers in their own language.
MCC says it gives lots of students classes in subjects like robotics, media, and internet knowledge. These classes aren’t taught at Ukraine’s public schools in any language.
Milan Constantinovits, second in command at MCC, said it’s really important for people in Zakarpattia, where there are many different cultures, to think carefully about who they are. “Most Hungarian students who come here are very sure that they think of themselves as Hungarian first. ”
He said that the MCC works hard to teach people from different cultures to be tolerant and respectful. They also offer Ukrainian lessons to Hungarian students who are learning it as their second language. Living together peacefully was always the norm, but then bigger problems started affecting the whole area.
“Ethnic conflicts often come from outside this diverse area,” he said. The people who live next to each other, the original people of this area, don’t really have any issues with each other. Many times this is a made-up increase in tensions.
The meeting on Monday between Szijjarto and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was their first since the war started in February 2022. There are also plans for Orban to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which suggests things are starting to improve a little bit.
However, Hungary’s government is still not fully ready to support Ukraine, even though the situation for the Hungarians in Zakarpattia is getting better. Zubanics said that both sides will need to work harder.
He said that diplomacy is like a performing art, sometimes more like a play than actual real life. “But we need to focus on the details now. I believe the parties have a lot in common, but we need their willingness to work together.