Former army chief slams Hungarian government in open letter, citing smear campaign and unjust dismissals
The current government has failed to show an example, and pursued “unfair and atrocious communication and behaviour”, the defence expert of the opposition Tisza Party said in an open letter on Wednesday.
In the letter addressed to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Fidesz group leader MátĂ© Kocsis, Fidesz-KDNP communication director Tamás Menczer and head of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said he had been “deeply offended by the smear campaign he had been subjected to.”
“I am a honest Hungarian citizen who has been wearing a uniform since age 14, has sworn an oath to serve the country and has done so in everyday tasks, at trainings, at war, in the NATO alliance system, and often far away from family and loved ones,” he said, adding that he had done this until the day he was released from duty.
He said he had been released from duty because he refused to assist in the “unprofessional amok run of a defence minister who was a businessman with a degree in agriculture”.
He added that one must ask the question: why was it necessary to fire thousands of soldiers without an explanation, and on what basis they had been selected, considering that many of them were well-trained, multilingual officers less than 45 years old. At the same time, the current chief of staff is 63, he added.
Commenting on recent espionage allegations, he said the government had made them up, accusing him of being Ukraine-friendly and having prepared a fake report.
“If so, why did they not launch proceedings after I had been fired? Why did the minister praise me in government propaganda? Why was I allowed to teach at the University of National Defence, and at the Mathias Corvinus College headed by Balázs Orbán?,” he asked.
Ruszin-Szendi said that only a few months after his release from service, the director of the military secret services was also released, and replaced by someone who had never worked at the secret services but served next to the prime minister in his “cloister”. And the state secretary in charge of the secret services is a clergyman, he added.
He said he had always followed Hungary’s National Security Strategy and represented the country in all alliances accordingly, whether it was a NATO meeting or any other alliance system.
He added that he believed it had been the right choice to stand by the opposition Tisza Party which would create a liveable and European Hungary, without hate and lies.
“Tisza is not the party of lies and hate, but the party of love, peace and cooperation. The party of Hungarian people. There is no right wing or left wing, only Hungarian,” he said.
Read more news about the Tisza Party HERE. As for news about the Hungarian government, click HERE.
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