Hungarian government: “Hungary stands by Ukraine… but”
The Hungarian government has appealed to international institutions to ensure the protection of the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Ukrainian legislation eliminates Hungarians’s rights
“This is a burning issue as a recent Ukrainian law will in fact eliminate ethnic minority schools in that country,” the foreign ministry quoted Szijjártó as saying. The Ukrainian legislation, passed late last year, “further aggravates the situation of the Hungarian national community, that is why action was needed to be initiated at international institutions even if the (Hungarian) government had temporarily frozen the issue of (Ukraine’s) curbing minority rights,” the statement said.
“We want to and we will protect the rights of ethnic Hungarian communities at all places in the world,” Szijjártó said. Ukraine currently has 99 ethnic Hungarian primary and secondary schools, but under the new law they will become state schools as of September 1, “with some level of access” to Hungarian education, Szijjártó said. From grade four on, the ratio of classes held in Hungarian could be gradually decreased to 40 percent, while entry and final examinations as well as vocational training in Hungarian will be eliminated altogether, the document quoted Szijjártó as saying.
Szijjártó welcomed that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe would refer the issue to the Venice Commission at the initiative of Hungary and Romania, and added that the body would come up with a position by June. “We sincerely hope that the international community, the European Union, and other international organisations will make Ukraine enforce the Venice Commission’s position just as they did on several occasions with regard to pieces of Hungarian legislation,” he said.
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“Hungary stands by Ukraine… but”
“Hungary stands by Ukraine… but we expect Ukraine to restore the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority with regard to the use of their mother tongue,” Szijjártó said, adding that “we do not ask for any rights to Transcarpathia Hungarians they did not have earlier”. “We want to restore the situation that had existed until 2015, when those rights were first curbed,” he added.
He also added that fighting for the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine was a top priority for Hungarian diplomacy. Ukraine has “violated and curbed the rights of ethnic Hungarians gradually” in a process that “fundamentally determined” bilateral ties in the past 7-8 years, Szijjártó said.
Earlier in the day, the Hungarian foreign minister met the head of the European Court of Human Rights, and top officials of the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe and of its Parliamentary Assembly.
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Minister: Hungary ‘doing everything possible’ to help people of Transcarpathia
Hungary has been “doing everything possible” to help the people of Transcarpathia, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said in Satoraljaujhely, in eastern Hungary, on Wednesday, adding that “each Hungarian bears responsibility for each and every Hungarian regardless of where they live in the world.” Gulyás told students and their teachers from Transcapathia staying in the town that Hungary condemned Russian and aggression continued to do so, adding that Hungary is providing humanitarian aid to Transcarpathia, in western Ukraine, and elsewhere in the country.
Also, the country is providing financial support for the running of the Ukrainian state, as well as taking in refugees or allowing them to pass through Hungarian territory, he noted. Gulyás praised Ukraine’s “heroic struggle” to defend its territory, adding that it was in Hungary’s interest that Hungarians living in Transcarpathia should suffer as little as possible, so Hungary has refused to deliver weapons as doing so would endanger the people of Transcarpathia by making them a target.
Source: MTI
Curious. How would Hungary delivering weapons making the people in Transcarpathia a target??? Unless of course you have some type of understanding with Russia. Otherwise, I believe the Russians would treat Transcarpathia just like any other administrative unit of Ukraine. Or am I missing something?
I’ll be generous and explain the obvious:
1, Weapons for Ukraine are a threat to Russia.
2, Russia bombs threats to itself.
3, From 1 and 2 concludes, that villages, through which weapons are delivered, are bombed, when weapons are delivered. Because that’s where the weapons that are bombed are located in that time.
4, From 3 it concludes, that if you deliver weapons through Hungarian areas (AKA Transcarpathia), Hungarian areas (AKA Transcarpathia) are bombed.
Duh.
Why do I even have to explain this? I know there are problems with the education, but damn…
@Norbert:
I agree with you, and you are one of the rare few who makes sensible (for lack of a better word) comments here.
As for the rights of ALL minorities (still living in Ukraine), no doubt, the issue will be addressed when Ukraine puts in an application to join EU.
Why is this Government singling out Ukraine regarding the Hungarian ethnic minorities? We have greater numbers in Romania and Slovakia, and some lesser ones in Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, and even some in Austria.
As for minority numbers in Ukraine, Hungarians aren’t the only ones. >> Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001 est.) <<
I have Hungarian friends in Ukraine, and the ones I have, and know here, all say, that it's the Orbán Goverment that's blowing it out of all proportions. Of course there a few Hungarians in Ukraine who dream of belonging to a Greater Hungary (also PM Orbán's secret dream (?)). And this Government relies on it's information from those, and/OR others, with views that do not reflect reality as a whole.
@Norbet, because if weapons were then stored in Transcarpathia it would be a military target for Russia. The war has already shown ammo depots being blown up. Doesn’t take much to put two together.
Norbert, you are missing nothing. This is just Victor’s way of somehow making Ukraine the bad guy while his friend Putin bombs the country, including putting “ethnic Hungarians” (whatever that is) in harm’s way. I ask,how many “ethnic Ukrianian” schools does Hungary have? Does Hungary provide any education in languages other than Hungarian at the primary and secondary level? No. This “ethnic Hungarian” shit is just that, a distraction from the fact that Victor is in Putin’s pocket. Shame on Gergely Gulyás for lying about giving all support to Hungarian Ukrainians while helping to defeat their hosts, the real Ukrainians.
Realist: Seems that if your conclusion would be true, than all of the borders with Poland and Romania would be bombed to rubble, and they are NOT.
Doesn’t anyone think that it would be absurd to store weapons, ammunition, and etc, in/on the opposite side of the country, rather than where they are needed.
The battles are not in Transcarpathia, and they’re not going to be as long as a certain rotund person tows Putin’s line.
Having said that, I’m dead cert that Putin doesn’t give a rats arse about any ethnic minorities presently in Ukraine including Hungarian ones (and not even Russians!) – palsy walsy (with him) or not.
If Putin wants to bomb the the hell out of Zakarpattia, he won’t hesitate because c.15 p.c. of it’s population is ethnic Hungarian – palsy walsy with him or not.
…After a little bit of thought, one might start to wonder if there is (also) something deeper, much deeper, to all this, like the green-eyed monster (jealousy), ie. Zelenskiy’s world-wide popularity (is that what’s dictating so much animosity toward Zelenskiy (from …)?).