“As a committed supporter, Hungary is helping to build peace in the Balkans, which can only be achieved through Euro-Atlantic integration”, the Minister of Defence stated on Friday, February 27 during the homecoming ceremony of the Hungarian Defence Forces KFOR-11 contingent in Tata.

“They have to go down the road to peace themselves and they have to find their own peace with each other. In this, we can only help them with peacekeeping and with the protection of endangered communities of ethnic minorities, cultural inheritance and holy shrines”, Minister Csaba Hende added.

The Minister of Defence emphasized that the events of recent weeks and the waves of the flood of refugees which defy every imagination have shown the importance of the role played by the troops of the Hungarian Defence Forces in the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo.

Of all Hungarian armed forces deployed abroad, the largest unit is currently serving in Kosovo. Altogether some 350 Hungarian troops are serving in the region with the contingent of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) and in individual or national positions.

Most soldiers of the rotation which has just returned home were drawn from the “Klapka György” Infantry Brigade of Tata. The contingent consisted of two manoeuvre companies which were stationed in Pristina and Novo Selo as part of Portuguese- and US-led large units.

Their duties were to maintain NATO’s presence, carry out patrols, operate checkpoints and conduct training programs. Hungarian peacekeepers have been serving in the Western Balkans since 1995. The most significant stabilizing force in the region is the KFOR mission, in which Hungary has been participating since the beginnings in 1999.

(Ministry of Defence, MTI)