According to Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, based on the example of Israel, Hungary must protect every Hungarian, no matter where they live in the world. The politician spoke about this on Friday at the award ceremony of the Award for Hungarian Communities Beyond the Borders in the Parliament Building.
“We must do the same as the Israelis, if Israel is allowed to do it, then so are we. The essence of the State of Israel is that every Jew, wherever they may live in the world, can rest assured that there is a country, there is a homeland, and if they are persecuted anywhere in the world, they can go back home to that country, and that country will protect them under any circumstances, by using all its influence, both its visible and invisible influence”, Mr Semjén said. In his view, Hungary has the same responsibility: it must protect every Hungarian, wherever they may live in the world.
The Deputy Prime Minister made particular mention of the Venezuelan Hungarian community from among the eleven awardees of the Award for Hungarian Communities Beyond the Borders which while not being persecuted is living in chaotic and dictatorial conditions, amidst a state of uncertainty. Mr Semjén therefore sent the message to the Hungarian community in Venezuela: Hungary is their homeland, they can come home at any time, together with their families, including those who no longer speak Hungarian, because Hungary will give them every assistance they need. He stressed: the Venezuelan Hungarians must know that they do not flee here, they do not emigrate here, but they come home. „This is the message to every Hungarian around the world, that no matter what happens, Hungary is their homeland, and Hungary awaits them with open arms”, he stated.
Mr Semjén reiterated that last year most of the awards went to those persecuted in Romania who were attacked with anti-Hungarian measures under the pretence of the rule of law just because they are emblematic representatives of the Hungarian nation. In his view, this trend still has not come to an end, and therefore from among the awardees he made specific mention of Anna Horváth, Deputy Mayor of Kolozsvár, who in his view „suffered a kind of martyrdom” and became the victim of „an evidently show-trial-style, trumped-up anti-Hungarian attack”. He stressed: the Hungarian State will not let go of her hand, the same way it will not let go of the hand of a single constituent part of the nation and a single Hungarian who is persecuted on account of the fact that they are Hungarian.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Award for Hungarian Communities Beyond the Borders is a symbol of the fact that the motherland and Hungarians beyond the borders cannot be separated. He stressed: Hungarians beyond the borders are responsible for themselves, for the rest of the detached parts of the nation and for the universal Hungarian community, while the Hungarian State must be proud and strong in the interest of the survival of the universal Hungarian community, must provide funds for the preservation of the Hungarian identity, and must support Hungarian communities beyond the borders also economically. He added: at the same time, citizenship is a constitutional framework which holds the Hungarian community together as „a band of steel”. He said: there will be one million new Hungarian citizens having taken their citizenship oaths by the meeting of the Hungarian Standing Conference to be held at the beginning of November.
After the award ceremony, Mr Semjén told journalists that the award given to Anna Horváth is a demonstrative action; in his view, it is natural that the Hungarian State should provide her with every assistance both before Romanian and international forums. In the context of the Hungarian community in Venezuela, he remarked: together with János Lázár, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, they made the preparations in the relevant state administration and other areas for their return home.
In answer to the question that, according to a news report, ambassadors were told to incorporate György Soros into their 20 August speeches, Mr Semjén said: the celebrations must fundamentally be about St. Stephen and the thousand years of Hungary, but it would be pharisaic if we only went back in history and failed to make mention of the current situation.
He added: György Soros launched an attack against Hungary, is pursuing an anti-Hungary campaign on the international scene, both in the United States and in Brussels, and finances goals that are contrary to „the essential life interests” of the Hungarian people. „It follows from self-defence and our life instinct that we should inform the world what György Soros’s machinations are about”, Mr Semjén said who takes the view that, in consequence, it is correct if the ambassadors place Hungary’s efforts at self-defence in the spotlight.
Eleven individuals and organisations received the Award for Hungarians Beyond the Borders this year. The Government decided on the establishment of the award in 2011. The award may be granted to Hungarian and foreign individuals and organisations engaged in outstanding activities in public life, education, culture, the preservation of our national heritage, church life, science, mass communication and economic self-organisation in the interest of Hungarian communities beyond the borders.
This year awards were granted to special needs teacher Mária Zupko (Slovakia), actor-singer Imre Vadkerti (Slovakia), performing artist Erika Verebes Krnács (Serbia), Szabadka diocesan János Pénzes (Serbia), the Nagydobrony Good Samaritan Reformed Church Children’s Home (Ukraine), teacher Anna Cár (Slovenia), teachers Ferenc Lengyel and Melinda Lengyel (Austria), and the Hungarian community in Venezuela. The Prime Minister further granted awards to Anna Horváth, former Deputy Mayor of Kolozsvár, Béla Kató, Bishop of the Transylvanian Reformed Church Diocese, and Zsolt József Tamási, former principal of the Marosvásárhely Roman Catholic Theological Lyceum.
(MTI)
