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The Cluj-Turda region, today part of Romania after centuries
of Hungarian rule, is uniquely equipped to host The
Ratiu Center for Democracy. Multilingual, multicultural,
multiconfessional, home to ethnic Romanians, Hungarians,
Roma, Germans, Szeklers, and Jews, the Cluj-Turda region
offers particularly instructive examples of emerging democracy:
• the achievement of peaceful coexistence between
multiple ethnic groups;
• popular multilingualism, enshrined in the great
Babes-Bolyai University, founded in 1581, and audible
throughout the region;
• religious freedom for all, first adopted by the
Diet of Turda as early as 1568;
• the struggle for a Romanian unitary state, first
achieved by Prince Michael the Brave, assassinated and
buried in Turda in 1601;
• historical research by young 18th century catholic
priests that fostered cultural identity and ultimately
political freedom; and
• peaceful assertion of civil rights by the 19th
century Memorandist Movement, led from Turda by the eminent
lawyer, Dr. Ioan Ratiu.
It was also in Cluj that Ion Ratiu, after whom our Center
is named, attended school and university. It was in Turda
that he was born and is buried.
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