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Krajina reported that on 9 April, in Mukačevo at the Rusin Dom, the Inter-Nationality (Межнациональной) Assembly of Podkarpatskaya held its first meeting. The founders of the Assembly were prominent public figures of the Rusin, Magyar, and Romanian communities of Podkarpatskaya, including representatives of the Coordinating Council of Rusin Organisations and the Union of Romanians in Podkarpatskaya Transcarpathia. For the first time in many years in Podkarpatskaya, an association represented civic activists from different nationalities. Representatives of various organisations, well-known local politicians, historians, healthcare workers, educators, and business-owners, expressed their willingness to undertake joint efforts for regional development. The main purpose of the 500 Assembly delegates was to call for a united effort of Rusin, Magyar, and Romanian community leaders and activists to protect their rights, freedoms, and interests. The Assembly also wants to organise work for the conservation and enhancement of the cultural and historical heritage and traditional values of the nationality groups in Podkarpatskaya. Its activities will address the needs of more than 1 million people in Podkarpatskaya, of the various nationalities living in the region, affecting some 90 percent of the total population.
The founding meeting elected Co-Chairmen of the Assembly… Ladislav Letsovich, Head of the Coordination Council of Rusin Organisations, Olga Gajdos, Deputy Head of Mukačevo district branch of the Society of Hungarian Culture in Podkarpatskaya (KMKS), and Ivan Miklovda, Deputy Head of the Union of Romanians in Podkarpatskaya. Practical leadership in the Assembly will come from a Directorate and a Council of 35 prominent activists.
Ladislav Letsovich emphasised that the residents of Podkarpatskaya aren’t separatists and extremists by creating this Assembly. They wish to preserve a unified and independent Ukraine {in a pig’s arse… that’s for public consumption: editor}. The Assembly will act strictly according to the present Ukrainian Constitution and laws. However, he noted that within this legal framework, the Assembly intends to achieve through dialogue with the authorities the official recognition of the 1991 referendum in Podkarpatskaya, in which more than 78 percent of those voting voted for an autonomous status for the region. To achieve these goals, the Assembly adopted a Memorandum and Resolution. The Assembly wants the text of these documents used in the work of the State Constitutional Commission to amend the Basic Law of the Ukraine.
Olga Gajdos emphasised that to achieve its goal, it’d be important for the Assembly to get support from political and social elements in Hungary, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, Serbia, and the USA, i.e., countries that have close ties with Podkarpatskaya nationalities. In turn, Ivan Miklovda stated that the Assembly should be able to exert influence on election campaigns at different levels, to ensure electing who’d look after the aims and interests of the various ethnic groups. He also gave assurances that the Romanian community supported the Assembly and would do its utmost to achieve its goals.
The main activities of the Assembly will be holding conferences, “roundtables”, festivals, relevant educational efforts, outreach, advocacy, and publication, as well as participation in elections at local and regional levels.
9 April 2015
From-ua.com
http://from-ua.com/news/344891-v-zakarpate-sozdana-mezhnacionalnaya-assambleya.html
Voices from Russia 
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