persecution of Romanies, that culminated in the killing of 500,000 to 1,500,000 Romanies in what is called Porajmos, the Romani Holocaust. 2006: University of Manchester completes its "Romani project", the first morphological study aiming to collect all the dialects of Romani language throughout Europe and dealing with their coherency. 2006: The first entirely Romani party is founded in Hungary, called the "MCF Roma összefogás" (MCF Union of the Roma), although they managed only 0.08% of total votes at the parliamentary elections held on April 9, 2006. 2010: In July 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy began a systematic deportation campaign against the Romani. His targets were Romanian and Bulgarian Roma. Critics of the Sarkozy administration consider the deportations as a diversionary tactic to reduce attention on threats to French social benefits. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern the deportations are evidence of growing racism and xenophobia in France. 2011: On September 1, 2011, a Romani academy of arts and sciences was founded in Belgrade to promote, organize, and disseminate research into Romani culture, language, and history. The academy has 21 regular members, including prominent Romani academics and public figures from 11 European countries, India, and the United States. There are 13 honorary members, which have included former Czech President Václav Havel. The academy was co-founded by Rajko Đurić, a Serbian Romani writer and academic who is also its first president, and received initial supporting funds from the German Heinrich Böll Foundation. 2012: On October 24, 2012, after many years of delays and disputes over cost and design, Angela Merkel unveils the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma victims of National Socialism in Berlin. 2016: On February 12, 2016, Indian External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj recognized all Roma people as Indian descendants. She called them flag bearers of Indian ethos and culture. Soon the community would be recognized on par with rest of the Indian diaspora. See also History of the Romani people References Further reading External links Timeline of Romani History - Patrin Web Journal (Internet Archive) A Chronology of significant dates in Romani history - Romani Archive and Documentation Center (Internet Archive) History of the Romani people during World War II Romani-related lists