The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) organized a workshop in Flensburg on 4-5th May 2023 about the impact of war in Ukraine on ethno-religious minorities. It was a great opportunity to present the initial findings of our ongoing research financed by NRDI Fund OTKA K 139127 research project.

The project aims to explore population dynamics at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border zone, especially current migration trends of Transcarpathian Hungarians. According to the original project plan (accepted in 2021) the project was supposed to focus on elderly migrants, but elderly migration is inseparable from family migration strategies, thus we broaden the pool of interviewees.

Thanks to the fantastic organizers, Kyriaki Topidi, Nadia Zasanska and Elmira Muratova and all the participants we listened to and learned from insightful talks about other ethnic groups in Ukraine (e.g.: Bulgarians, Meskhetian Turks, Tatars), various religious communities diverse reactions to the war (Muslims, Jews, Protestants), the reception of refugees and Ukrainian diaspora in Poland and importantly, the legal aspects of war on minority status and current discourses that might shape the future of state-minority relations, including language and education policy.

The participants are working on an edited volume.