Foreign Minister: Hungarian PM Called For Self-Determination For Hungarians, Not Territorial Autonomy

(MTI) – The Hungarian prime minister called for self-determination for Hungarian communities outside Hungary, not territorial autonomy, Janos Martonyi, the outgoing foreign minister, said at the GLOBSEC 2014 international security conference in Bratislava on Wednesday.

Responding to a a Slovak journalist’s question in connection with Viktor Orban’s recent remarks on autonomy, Martonyi said that Orban used the term in a broad context in his speech, when he called for self-determination and self-administration for Hungarian communities.

After his re-election as prime minister last Saturday, Orban said that ethnic Hungarians were entitled to dual citizenship, community rights and autonomy. “These are topical issues in light of the situation in neighbouring Ukraine where 200,000 ethnic Hungarians live,” he added.

Addressing Miroslav Lajcak, his Slovak counterpart, Martonyi said that concerning collective rights they had different viewpoints, but their aim was to continue a dialogue on this issue.

“Our position is simple: we want to pursue a dialogue and we do not want to send ambiguous messages through the media,”

Lajcak, in response, said it was not that “tragic” if the two countries had different viewpoints, adding that the possibility of “bringing these closer” would continue to be explored.

Photo: fidesz.hu

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