Peace march on March 15 – Orbán: A weak nation will not get peace, only mercy

The young Hungarian revolutionaries in 1848 called for peace, freedom and unity and the one thing they needed for each was the same: strength, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said addressing a commemoration of the March 15 national holiday marking the 174th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence, on Tuesday afternoon.

Peace March

Supporters of a Peace March organised by the pro-government Civic Union (CÖF) and associated foundation COFKA to mark the March 15 national holiday.

The participants had gathered in front of the Komjádi swimming pool on the Buda part of the capital and walked over to Parliament in Pest.

When the front section of the march reached Parliament, its end was near the Pest side of Margaret Bridge.

The first marchers were carrying banners reading

“Peace March” and “No War”.

Orbán speech at Kossuth Square

Orbán said “a weak nation will not get peace, only mercy … a weak nation will not have unity, but it will have to accept its fate”.

Only strong nations will be rewarded with peace, freedom and unity, he added.

“We want a strong country … which always revolves around its own axis … and will not allow the interests of other nations to set its orbit,” he said.

“We have been building a strong Hungary year by year for 12 years,” he added.

Orbán said this was the reason for providing support to families, “this is why we have created one million jobs, this is why we have made multinationals to pay tax, reduced utility fees and sent the IMF packing.”

“We have not been diverted by floods, migration or a pandemic, and we do not want to allow either the war or the left wing to divert us from this on April 3,” he added.

Orbán: ‘We won’t allow left wing to drag Hungary into war’

“We won’t allow the left wing to drag Hungary into war,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday, addressing a March 15 national holiday commemoration in front of Parliament.

Orbán declared that voters who wanted peace and security would cast their ballots for the ruling Fidesz-led alliance in the April 3 general election.

Orbán insisted that the left wing had “lost their common sense” and “they would sleep-walk” into a “cruel, lengthy and bloody war”. He accused the left wing of planning to send Hungarian soldiers and Hungarian weapons to the war in Ukraine.

“We will not allow it. We will not allow the left wing to drag Hungary in this war. We will not allow the left wing to make Hungary a military target and to make Hungarians and ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia military targets,” he added.

Hungarians know very well “who tends to pocket the profits of such wars … but we are strong and we are resisting the plans of the left wing and the troublemakers who are behind them,” he said.

Referring to the recent presidential election, Orbán said the timing of Hungary’s election of a woman president had been “perfect”. He cited the incoming head of state, Katalin Novak, as saying that women “want to win peace, not war”.

“If we want to put an end to war and if we want Hungary to stay out of the war, we must listen to women,”

he said. “Mothers know that it takes twenty years to raise a man, but a man can be destroyed in twenty seconds,” he said.

Orbán said Hungary must stay out of the war “because no Hungarian should come between a Ukrainian anvil and a Russian hammer”, and this was why Hungary refused to send soldiers or weapons into the theatre of war.

He said Hungary must represent its own interests calmly and courageously.

“It isn’t in our interest to become footsoldier victims in someone else’s war,” he said.

“Some countries want to achieve their goals through warfare, but we know that the best war is one that can be avoided,” he added.

“Russia will consider Russian interests; Ukraine will consider Ukrainian interests, but the United States and Brussels will not think with a Hungarian head or feel with a Hungarian heart,” he said.

Orbán noted that hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine, and Hungarian soldiers and police must guarantee Hungary’s southern and eastern borders with arms.

Hungary, he added, was now engaged in its largest humanitarian aid programme of all time. “Meanwhile, the energy crisis of western Europe is now knocking on our door.”