MP Tarziu visiting Ukraine: We do not ask for anything in addition to what we offer in our turn

The Ukrainian authorities must observe the rights of the Romanian historical community to an extent "proportional to the fair treatment" of ethnic minorities living in Romania, Chairman of the Committee on Romanians Everywhere Senator Claudiu Tarziu of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) told an international forum called "Romanian Communities in the Odessa Region: Efficient Ways to Develop Ukrainian-Romanian Relations." "We do not ask for anything more than what we also offer to the ethnic minorities living on Romanian soil: mother-tongue linguistic, educational and cultural rights - all enshrined in the Constitution. The grievances of our brothers in Southern Basarabia are to preserve and to freely express what has always belonged to them: the Romanian language, the national culture and the educational process, according to criteria that respect their national identity. Nothing more legitimate than that," Tarziu told the forum organised at Izmail, Ukraine, by the Rectorate of State Humanities University and the Consulate General of Romania in Odessa, according to a press statement released by AUR on Friday. According to Tarziu, "in the absence of an articulated and coherent policy on the part of the ruling parties, the historical community in Ukraine is subject to an intense and aggressive process of forced assimilation by the Ukrainian state." On a two-day official visit to Ukraine as head of a parliamentary delegation, Tarziu held talks with the faculty of the State Humanities University in Izmail and was welcomed by the mayor of the city, Andrii Abramchenko, as well as by to the Chairman of the Izmail District Administration, Radion Ababaev. AGERPRES (RO - author: Sorinel Penes, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)