Hungary pledges continued support for Middle East Christian communities – UPDATE

Hungary’s government will continue to support the Christian communities of the Middle East so they can remain in their homeland, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday, adding that “the birthplace of Christianity without Christians is unimaginable”.

In a keynote speech at a conference in Budapest on the future of Lebanon’s Christian community, Szijjártó said the world was living in “an era of dangers”, and the situation in the Middle East had a significant impact on the security of central Europe. Hungary therefore had a vested interest in the region’s peace and stability, a ministry statement quoted him as saying.

Szijjártó said Lebanon played a key role in the stability of the Middle East and had a sizable Christian community. He said that Hungary, as a country with more than a thousand years of Christian statehood, felt heavy responsibility for the world’s Christian communities, especially for those facing hardship and persecution. “And unfortunately the Christians living in Lebanon are experiencing their share of hardship,” Szijjártó said. “Therefore it’s an important goal of ours to help and keep helping Lebanon’s Christian community.”

He said it was important to ensure that Lebanon’s Christians are not forced to leave their homeland. “We must make sure that the places that have been home to Christian communities for centuries aren’t left without Christians.” He said this meant that Christian communities needed to be aided and strengthened locally. He noted that the Hungary Helps humanitarian programme has spent tens of millions of dollars on enabling the Middle Eastern and specifically Lebanese Christian communities to stay in their homeland.

“This requires investments to create jobs,” he said. “This requires schools so that children have a place to learn. It requires social and health institutions. And it requires churches so that people can practise their faith.” Over the last seven years, the Hungarian government has spent some 20 million US dollars on 38 such programmes in Lebanon, he said, adding that it was “perhaps most proud” of the fact that it has renovated close to 100 ancient Christian churches. “Hungary is prepared to continue these programmes.”

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said one key issue regarding the future of Lebanon’s Christian community was when the Syrian refugees taken in by the country would return home, given that their care was a “huge burden” on Lebanon. He said his European counterparts had been saying for over ten years now that the situation would quickly improve after former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was gone. “Now that Assad is gone, I think it’s time the international community promoted the repatriation of the Syrians who fled to Lebanon,” he added.

Szijjártó called for the creation of the necessary political, security and economic conditions for the repatriations, saying it was “time to put political correctness aside and speak about this matter honestly and openly, and take this massive burden off Lebanon’s shoulder”. He said the aim of Friday’s conference was to establish a mechanism for aiding Lebanon’s long-term development, with Christian communities taking on the lion’s share.

“This, of course, requires resources,” Szijjártó said. “We’re prepared to contribute. We hope that the members of the Lebanese diaspora, organisations and foreign players will also contribute their fair share…” He said Hungary was prepared to run a secretariat for such a mechanism in Budapest.

Orbán meets leader of Lebanese Kataeb party

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó met Samy Gemayel, president of the Lebanese Kataeb party in Budapest on Friday, the prime minister’s communications department said.

They discussed the security and migration situation in the Middle East, current affairs of Hungarian-Lebanese economic ties and the work of the Hungary Helps programme in Lebanon, the statement said.

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