“The international community must create the conditions to enable communities that are being persecuted by terrorists to remain at home and for the persecuted to be able to return to their place of residence; Hungary has shown that even similar middle-sized countries can play their part in this”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Thursday in Ulaanbaatar at a conference on countering terrorism.

The Minister gave a speech at the event, which was organised by the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

He told those present that terrorism had been practically unknown in Europe for decades, but that since 2015, when mass illegal migration raised its head, the situation has changed. “Over three hundred people have lost their lives in European acts of terrorism. Since then, there has been heated debate in Europe on illegal migration and the responses that should be provided to it. Hungary is placing the security of the country and its citizens in first place and has made a huge effort to reinforce the protection of its borders, and it is retaining the right to decide for itself to whom it allows entry to the country”, the Minister declared in his speech.

“There is obviously a close link between illegal and unmonitored migration and terrorism, because the unmonitored influx of illegal migrants affords terrorist organisations the opportunity to get its people into Europe”, he stated.

“For this reason, I believe that it would be a bad response on Europe’s part to encourage migration, because that would only help the terrorist organisations. Instead, we must eliminate the causes of migration. It is beyond debate that our main common enemy is the Islamic State jihadist organisation, and our main goal must be the total elimination of this terrorist organisation. We have already achieved success with relation to this issue”, he determined.

The Minister explained that the international community has retaken 98 percent of the territories previously occupied by the Islamic State, but that this does not mean that the organisation is finished, because it is continuously changing its tactics and its geographical appearance. For this reason, the fight against ISIS and all terrorist organisations must be continued. First of all, we must fight against the jihadists being able to propagate their ideology and recruit members via the internet. The most vulnerable strata of society must be protected from this”, he stated.

“Anther important step it to sever the financing channels of terrorism, and accordingly international organisations must take great care when choosing the instruments with which to assist the migrants”, he said.

“For instance, the European Union and UN organisations could be unknowingly helping terrorists through the issuing of anonymous debit cards to migrants, in addition to which this is being paid for out of the money of European taxpayers”, he stated.

“Thousands of people from around the world have joined groups in the Middle East and North Africa that have sworn loyalty to the Islamic State terrorist organisation, five thousand from Europe alone. Those jihadists who survived the occupation of the “caliphate’s” territories are now trying to return home and will perhaps attempt to perpetrate terrorist attack there”, he explained. “In the Balkans, for instance in Bosnia, several such former jihadists have already been apprehended”, he pointed out.

The Minister said that in his opinion the culture of impunity must come to an end and the international community must support the UN Security Council’s resolution according to which an international tribunal must be established to investigate the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Islamic State’s terrorists. In addition, the international community must create the conditions to enable people who have been driven out of their homes by the terrorists to return there. He said that in his opinion this would also assist countries that have admitted millions of refugees.

“Through the deployment of hundreds of soldiers, Hungary is playing its part in various places around the world in the interests of maintaining peace and in creating the conditions required to enable refugees to return home”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

He underlined the fact that since Hungary has been a Christian country for over a thousand years it feels a particular responsibility for the world’s Christian communities. “We must not ignore the fact that Christians are the most persecuted religious community in the world, and are the main targets of terrorists in the Middle East and North Africa”, he added.

He told those present that Hungary has developed a special relationship with several Christian communities in these regions, and the religious leaders of these communities are asking Europe’s leaders not to encourage persecuted Christians to leave their homelands and escape to Europe, because by doing so they are furthering the intent of the terrorists, but to instead provide support to enable them to remain in place.

The Minister said that accordingly Hungary has to date provided a total of 35 million dollars in aid to assist these communities via the construction of churches, schools, hospitals, orphanages and homes. “It is evident from this that even a medium-sized country like Hungary is capable of contributing to enabling the world’s Christian communities to continue to exist in their homelands”, the Minister said at the conference in Ulaanbaatar entitled The Fight Against the Violent Radicalism and Extremism that Leads to Terrorism, and Prevention.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)