“Guaranteeing religious freedom and aiding communities that are being persecuted for religious reasons is one of the cornerstones of Great Britain’s foreign policy, and this corresponds to the Hungarian government’s policy of aiding persecuted Christians”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI from London late on Tuesday evening.

“At our meeting, the British Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion and Belief and I agreed that, in view of the fact that Christianity is the most prosecuted religion on Earth, with eighty percent of people who are persecuted because of their religion being Christian, special attention must be paid to supporting persecuted Christian communities”, the Minister said.

“Hungary is calling for the international community to do away with political correctness and hypocrisy and finally talk clearly about the attacks on Christian communities, not leave them without consequence, and stand up in support of persecuted Christians”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

“Hungary has spent forty million dollars to date on aiding Middle Eastern and African Christian communities, as a result of which it has gained international acknowledgement”, he added.

“Our fundamental principle continues to be that assistance must be taken to where the trouble is, and in this spirit we will in future continue to fund programmes that enable Christian communities to remain in place or return to their homes”, Mr. Szijjártó underlined.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister took part in a high-level meeting in London to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of NATO, on the sidelines of which he met with the British Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion and Belief Rehman Chishti on Tuesday.

(MTI)