Legally declared in Romania: Szeklerland does not exist
According to kronika.ro, the Marosvásárhely Court of Appeal said no to the tourism promotion of Szeklerland, dismissing the appeal concerning the formal registration of Pro Turismo Sicolorum alliance.
Thus, the earlier decision of the Hargita county courthouse that claimed Szeklerland non-existent became final.
14 tourism and rural development associations of Hargita, Kovászna and Maros counties initiated the establishment of Pro Turismo Terrae Siculorum alliance last October in order to promote Székelyland tourist destinations. The representatives of the associations wanted to officially register the alliance in the Hargita county courthouse, but they were rejected last December. The High Court declared the appeal unfounded on February 4.
Benedek Nagy, Vice President of the alliance said that the elected Executive Board would decide on the additional steps related to registration. Kronika.ro knows that they attached several documents to their appeal which prove that similar associations, organizations can freely use the names of many historical regions for promoting purposes. The court objected to the Székelyföld phrase and asked to change it.
At the first trial the prosecutor said that the charter is unconstitutional since there is the word Székelyföld in it. Therefore, the initiators changed the phrase to Székelyföld tourist destination, but the court did not accept it, because they said there is no such territorial department, and Romania is made up by municipalities, cities and counties. The initiators suspect political reasons behind the rejection. Kronika.ro asked for the rejecting order in writing, but they have not received an answer yet.
The decision is incomprehensive because there are several similar associations in the country. For example, the Bucovina Tourism Association which was founded in 2001, according to the Bucovinatourism.ro, and it was supported by the Suceava county Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Tourism, in order to boost the tourism of Bucovina.
Copy editor: bm
Source: http://kronika.ro
