Semjen Addresses National Cohesion Day

(MTI) – The Hungarian nation can be proud of having survived the Trianon Peace Treaty of June 4, 1920, Zsolt Semjen, the deputy prime minister in charge of Hungarian communities abroad, said on Wednesday.

June 4 is the day of mourning, remembrance and a historical lesson at the same time, he said. It is a day of mourning, because the Trianon Treaty was the greatest tragedy of the nation after the division of historical Hungary in 1541, Semjen said. It is the time of remembrance, as well, because forgetting about one of the most tragic events in Hungarian history would amount to national suicide, he said. A historical lesson can be drawn from the events of 1920: Trianon could have been avoided with a completely unified nation, argued Semjen.

“We should be proud of Hungarian heroes, who, living outside the borders of Hungary, have remained true Hungarians under all circumstances,”

In his message marking Cohesion Day, Arpad Potapi, the chairman of parliament’s national cohesion committee representing ruling Fidesz, said that a strong cohesion within the nation makes the country stronger.

He said that commemorations had been held over the past four years and as a result Hungarian communities abroad had become an “inseparable part” of the Hungarian nation.

Addressing a commemoration in Budapest, Zsolt Nemeth, the foreign affairs state secretary, stated support to Transcarpathia’s Hungarian community, their dual citizenship, the use of their mother tongue and their representation in Ukraine’s parliament. He noted that some 600,000 people had obtained Hungarian citizenship in a fast-track procedure introduced four years ago.

Marking the day, the opposition Socialists said Trianon was a wrong and unjust peace treaty which is remembered by all Hungarians as an unforgettable tragedy.

Radical nationalist Jobbik said that only commemorating the Trianon anniversary was not enough, lessons of that event must also be learnt.

The opposition LMP party called for territorial autonomy for Szekler Land, as a precondition for building strong and viable Hungarian communities.

Opposition E-PM said in a press release that the Trianon Treaty was unjust and was a tragedy of all Hungarians. The party called for a new approach, a “change of era” in addressing Hungary’s great 20th century national tragedies such as Trianon, the communist dictatorship and the Holocaust.

Ethnic Hungarian communities in neighbouring countries also held commemorations to mark the day.

Addressing an event in Backi Vinogradi (Kiralyhalom) near Subotica in northern Serbia, Istvan Pasztor, head of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, said local Hungarians form a viable community that can and wants to contribute to building a strong Hungary and a strong Hungarian nation.

The head of the Hungarian People’s Party of Transylvania (EMNP), Tibor T Toro told a commemoration in central Romania’s Targu Mures (Marosvasarhely) that National Cohesion Day is an occasion for the ethnic Hungarian community to address its future instead of mulling over the past.

Zsuzsanna Repas, deputy state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad, said in southern Slovakia’s Levice (Leva) that June 4 marks the day when members of the Hungarian community in the Carpathian Basin declare responsibility towards one another.

Hungary observes National Cohesion Day on June 4. The day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, in 1920, under which two-thirds of Hungary’s territory was ceded to neighbouring countries. The day has been marked since 2010.

Photo: MTI – Lajos Soos

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters