Hungary’s foreign ministry refutes Romanian accusations of ‘propaganda war’

Budapest, May 2 (MTI) – Hungary’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it resolutely refutes “all the nonsense” about Hungary waging a “propaganda war” against Romania, even if the accusations originate from Romanian academic circles.

MTI asked the ministry for comment about Romanian media reports of a Hungarian research team dubbed Trianon 100 which is presented as an “anti-Romanian” propaganda department. The team has won 30 million forints (EUR 96,000) support from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for a five-year project that aims at supplementing, summarising and promoting knowledge connected to the post-WWI Trianon Peace Treaty.

Romanian historian Ioan Aurel Pop, rector of the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj (Kolozsvár), said last week that “Romania is waging an information and communication war against Hungary” and “Budapest established a state department dubbed Trianon 100 with a budget of its own” while the Romania’s Centenary department set up by the Bucharest government does not have a separate budget.

The ministry said Hungary continues to trust that bilateral relations with the new Romanian government would gain new impetus, as discussed by the foreign ministers in February.

It is unfortunate that there are academic circles in Romania whose interests go against exploring the often differently interpreted and assessed common events of the past, the ministry said. Scholarly research to this end could only bring the two nations closer together and the ministry will continue to support dialogue between Hungarian and Romanian researchers, it added.

Source: MTI