Problems with the Roma population will not be resolved by the marches organised recently by Marian Kotleba and his ultra-right Slovenská Pospolitosť organisation, said the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights and Minorities, Dušan Čaplovič, at a meeting between Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič and representatives of the country's minorities on Monday, January 18, the TASR newswire reported.
"Today it’s the Roma, tomorrow it will be the Jews, then differently-thinking people, and then they’ll be against everybody. This is how Hitler started and this is how Kotleba is starting as well,” said Čaplovič, as quoted by TASR.
According to Čaplovič, the Roma are part of society and have their rights but also their responsibilities and they will bear the consequences of their actions. He is convinced that the question of the status of the Roma can be resolved mainly through education and by focusing on the younger generation.
According to the representative of the Cultural Association of Roma Nationality Citizens in Košice, Erika Adamová, more could be done to resolve Roma's problems. “Mainly in connection to nationalism,” she said.
In her opinion, this doesn’t only concern marches by Kotleba supporters, but also statements made by certain politicians, mainly from the Slovak National Party (SNS). She asked Gašparovič to discuss this issue with SNS representatives, and to ask them to “reduce their vocabulary and their statements, which are sometimes nationalist”. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
