PHOTOS: Monument of Hungarian rescue dog Mancs inaugurated in Türkiye

Photo: facebook.com/novak.katalin.official

The friendship between the Turkish and Hungarian nations should “continue to be about courage and unselfish help in the next 100 years,” President Katalin Novák said in Kocaeli on Friday.

The president spoke at the unveiling of a monument to Mancs (Paw), a famous Hungarian rescue dog, and noted that diplomatic ties between the two countries had been established in 1923. Novák also noted Hungary’s aid to Turkey after the earthquakes in 1999 and in February this year. The late Mancs belonged to the Spider rescue team in Miskolc, in northern Hungary. He became famous when he rescued a three-year-old girl in 1999, buried under the ruins of a house for 82 hours.

Katalin Novák, the President of Hungary, wrote the following thoughts about Mancs on her Facebook page:

“The statue of Mancs (Paw) symbolises selflessness, helpfulness and bravery. Characteristics that we Hungarians are proud of and aspire to have.

We unveiled the statue of Mancs, the heroic dog saving lives, in Kocaeli in Türkiye. Hope, one of the four-legged heroes of the rescue operations after the recent earthquake, laid flowers at the statue, in the presence of both dogs’ trainer, László Lehoczki. Mancs saved several lives after the earthquake in Izmit in 1999. This time, 29 rescue dogs from Hungary helped to save 35 human lives.”

Katalin Novák also visited mourning women who lost their loved ones in the recent devastating earthquake:

President Erdogan also expressed his thankfullness for the Hungarian rescue teams and their dogs: