Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó discussed the attack on the headquarters of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (KMKSZ) in Uzhhorod (Ungvár) by telephone with the Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Wednesday.

During a press conference on another topic, the Minister said in response to a question from Hungarian news agency MTI that he had repeated to the organisation’s Secretary General Hungary’s proposal according to which the OSCE should also establish a permanent presence in the western part of Ukraine, in Transcarpathia, as part of its Special Monitoring Mission, and not just in the eastern part of the country. “The task of the OSCE is to prevent conflicts, and dramatic consequences could ensure if the situation remains unchanged in Transcarpathia”, he stressed.

The Secretary General confirmed that there are no legal hindrances to the realisation of the Hungarian proposal, meaning that according to the Foreign Minister doing so is “simply a matter of political will”.

Mr. Szijjártó told the press that he had also approached the Foreign Minister of Italy, which holds the current presidency of the organisation, with relation to the issue. “This is a legitimate request in view of the fact that Hungary is providing the ninth largest contingent for the OSCE’s mission in Ukraine, with 27 Hungarians working there”, he said.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister criticised the fact that there is “silence” within the international community with regard to the issue: nobody has made a statement of solidarity and nobody has stated that what happened in unacceptable.

Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion the situation in Ukraine is serious and nationalist views have made dramatic progress, as also indicated by the fact that Hungarians in Transcarpathia are under continuous intimidation.

Tuesday’s attack “crosses all boundaries”, as does the fact that it occurred in a country that would like to forge closer ties to NATO and the EU, he said.
The Hungary Government is providing all possible financial assistance to the KMKSZ, he noted.

As visible in surveillance camera footage that has since been made public, on Monday night an unknown hooded assailant placed an explosive device on one of the window sills of the KMKSZ headquarters in Uzhhorod, which duly exploded not long after the perpetrator had left the scene. Three rooms on the ground floor of the building suffered extreme fire damage as a result of the powerful explosion.

The arson attack has been condemned by, amongst many others, the Government and several other politicians from the Fidesz, LMP, MSZP, Párbeszéd and Jobbik parties, and by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Governor of Transcarpathia Gennady Moskal.

(MTI)