The Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs has banned French linguist and writer, Raoul Weiss, from entering the country for national security reasons. Weiss is also an enthusiastic member of the Transylvanian-Hungarian folk dance-movement and has publically supported cases related to ethnic-Hungarians in Romania.
In an interview with MTI, Weiss revealed that upon landing in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), he was denied entry to the country.
Documents presented to him at the airport stated he “poses a serious threat to the Romanian legal, social, economic and political stability which is the basis for the existence and development of a sovereign, unified, independent and indivisible Romanian nation-state.” He is banned from entering Romania for 5 years.
Weiss finds it ridiculous that the Romanians consider his artistic activity a threat to their national security and is considering filing a court case against the decision. “How could I have threatened Romania’s security? With my Poems? With linguistic analysis?”
He insists his art has not been the cause of his entrance into Romania being denied. According to Weiss, the real reason could be that his writings about the Romanian civil demonstrations that enjoyed world-wide readership angered some at the „Romanian deep state”, as he puts it. Among the sensitive topics he has touched upon he mentioned voicing his opinion about street movements being organized by NGOs representing foreign interests, and by the anti-democratic maneuvering of the internal services. (Note: this part has been corrected along Mr Weiss’ observations and comments.)
Raoul Weiss explained that he holds French citizenship only, previously ran a café in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) and is currently a Ph.D. student at Babes-Bolyai University (BBTE). He is planning to defend his doctoral dissertation in comparative linguistics next year. Weiss has published novels in Romanian, authored poems in Hungarian and written several French opinion pieces and philosophical essays.
MTI/Magyar Idők/Hungary Today
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