Europe’s security conditional on defeating Islamic State, says Szijjártó in Washington

Cleveland, July 21 (MTI) – Restoring security in Europe requires a victory over the Islamic State terrorist organisation, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday.

On the sidelines of a meeting of countries fighting IS, in Washington, DC, Szijjártó told MTI by phone, “It is now clear that Europe is living in the shadow of the most serious terrorist threat of all time”.

Szijjártó said that the current migration crisis was partly caused by IS, which had destabilised countries along Europe’s southern borders.

“Millions of people fled and set off for Europe.”

Hungary is one of 23 countries in the global anti-IS coalition which contribute actual troops to the mission, Szijjártó said. He added that Hungary’s experts are participating in three different military working groups.

Currently there are 126 Hungarian soldiers serving in northern Iraq, providing security and contributing to the training of the Iraqi and Kurdish military, Szijjártó said. He added that further Iraqi officers were scheduled to arrive in Hungary in November to receive training on how to neutralise explosive devices. Hungary will also donate weapons and some 110,000 ammunitions to Iraq’s army, Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó said while Islamic State remains undefeated efforts are needed to ensure that people fleeing their homes stay “near their homes” rather than coming to Europe. To that end, Hungary will contribute a sum of one billion forints (EUR 3.2m) to the European fund aimed at helping Syrian refugees and communities accommodating them. The City of Budapest has also offered 1.5 billion forints (EUR 4.8m) to build a hospital in Syria once reconstruction starts in that country, Szijjártó said.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI