The mayors of 51 eastern Slovak settlements sent a letter to Premier Dzurinda and parliamentary speaker Pavol Hrusovsky on 26 September to protest a cabinet decision to move a district seat from Svidnik to Stropkov, CTK reported. The signatories called the decision "cynical and discriminatory," and say it is intended to "completely liquidate the ethnic Ruthenian minority." A copy of the letter was also sent to diplomatic representatives of the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Russia. The signatories asked parliament to change "the government's irrational, discriminatory, and nationalist-oriented proposal." MS

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