Hungary turns to CoE over Romania WWI shrine dispute

Hungary has turned to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers over a dispute with Romania around a memorial site in the Valea Uzului (Uzvolgye) military cemetery in the country's Harghita County, a lawmaker of ruling Fidesz said in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The military cemetery is the largest WW1 memorial site in Harghita County. However, the local council of the eastern Romanian town of Darmanesti, in Bacau County, has moved to establish a memorial site in the cemetery for Romanian soldiers who fell in the second world war. This has seen the erection of 52 concrete crosses and one large Orthodox cross in the fenced-off cemetery site holding the graves of some 600 soldiers of Austria-Hungary. By filing a report with the committee on the situation, Hungary aims to prevent encroachments through military cemeteries, Attila Tilki said.