Budapest, September 10 (MTI) – Air Canada Rouge will launch a direct flight between Budapest and Toronto from June 10 next year, Liszt Ferenc International operator Budapest Airport told MTI on Wednesday.
Air Canada Rouge, a unit of Air Canada, will operate the flight three times a week.
Budapest (MTI) – Imre Pakh, the New York-based art collector of Hungarian origin who owns Mihaly Munkacsy’s “Golgotha” — currently on loan to Hungary — told MTI that he has informed Debrecen’s Deri Museum that he will remove the landmark painting from the museum on August 31.
Pakh said the reason behind his decision was that the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) had shown no willingness to compromise in order to keep the painting in Hungary, but was instead trying to hold on to the work “by force”, going as far as initiating a listing procedure. Pakh said such a move was “in breach of both Hungarian and international laws” and that he would take legal action over the matter. He said he had informed the head of the Forster Gyula National Heritage and Asset Management Centre, Debrecen mayor Laszlo Papp and government commissioner Laszlo L. Simon of his decision. The painting will be stored in a warehouse in Hungary, Pakh said. The art collector said that on Thursday he will inform the central bank that he considers the negotiations to be over, but would be willing to cooperate if the bank “changed its stance on the matter”.
Janos Angi, director of the Deri Museum, told MTI that he had recently received a phone call from Pakh, in which the art collector informed him that he would be removing the painting from the museum at the end of the month. “I asked Imre Pakh to send a letter expressing his intention [to remove the painting] along with a written consent from the Forster Centre,” Angi said, adding that the consent was crucial in order to remove the painting. He said Pakh had made no formal contact with the museum.
In June, the cabinet office initiated a procedure to prevent “Golgotha” (1884), one of three paintings in the Munkacsy trilogy, from being permanently removed from the country. The office said the painting would be listed temporarily until rules on a permanent listing are applied. The state has owned “Ecce Homo!” (1896), part of the series, for decades and it recently acquired “Christ Before Pilate” (1881), another of the three, from Canada’s Art Gallery of Hamilton for 5.7 million dollars, with funding from the NBH’s programme to buy national art treasures.
Ferenc Gerhardt, deputy governor of the central bank, said the bank would pay 6 million dollars to acquire the painting, though Pakh is asking for 9 million dollars. Pakh said that Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Fine Art Asset Management, had appraised the painting and they had all estimated its value around 10 million dollars.
Photo: vitezirend.com
Budapest, August 13 (MTI) – Preserving the memory of the victims of communism is a moral duty, Human Resources Minister Zoltan Balog said in the House of Terror Museum in Budapest on Thursday.
The minister presented Ludwik Klimkowski, the head of Canada’s Tribute to Liberty foundation, with a large symbolic cheque for 25 million forints (EUR 80,380), which the Hungarian government will contribute to a memorial honouring the victims of communism to be set up in Ottawa.
Full costs of the memorial are estimated at 4 million Canadian dollars, 70 percent of which is to be covered by the Canadian government. Hungary is one of the biggest contributors, besides private individuals who fled the communist states and found refuge in Canada.
Balog said that by supporting the memorial, the government would like to recognise Canada’s generous act of granting safe heaven to 43,000 Hungarian refugees after the 1956 revolution. Balog noted that in 2010, Canada designated this act as a national historic event, which he said was a further testament to the significance of the two countries’ relations. The minister said the end of the second world war led Hungary from one dictatorship to another, noting that the 2015 Gulag memorial year has been extended until February 25, 2017.
Klimkowski thanked the government for its support and expressed hope that the memorial would be completed by the 60th anniversary of the 1956 revolution. He invited representatives of the Hungarian government to attend the inauguration ceremony. He said the memorial aims to express that Canada is a country of immigrants, with 8 million citizens who in some way had been affected by communism.
Maria Schmidt, head of the House of Terror Museum, said the memorial will show future generations how big of a privilege it is to be living in a free and democratic country.
Photo: MTI
According to alfahir.hu, the Hungarian-language kanadavilaga.com cites the Canadian government’s communication which informs the Hungarian citizens visiting Canada that the country will introduce the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) from August 1, 2015 which will be the condition of the visa-free travel from March 15, 2016. That is, who doesn’t receive the permission in advance, one can save the air travel.
Why was this step so important for the Canadian government?
Actually, “Hungarian citizens”, “entry” and Canada words mean that Hungarian Roma want to go to Canada.
The overseas country doesn’t allow the Hungarian Roma to board to the direct flights. According to alfahir.hu, a special firm carries the “filtering” of the passengers commissioned by the Canadian state in order to keep the Roma away.
The website says the security company does face control on those who want to travel to the North American country. In theory, anyone could be refused to take off, but in this case, their task is filtering out of the Roma.
Why is this discrimination needed?
Canada abolished the visa regime against Hungary in 2008. In subsequent years, there was a miss Roma migration to Canada. The North American country rather generously treats the refugees arrived in the country. It provides their housing and also grants social services. The peak of the emigration from Hungary was 2011. At that time, 4425, mostly Roma asylum-seekers arrived in Canada, but only 8% of them got refugee status. Overall, approximately 10 thousand people started the North American tour.
Canada quickly realized that a significant proportion of newcomers just want to enjoy the benefits of the social system. Therefore, it changed the asylum system, but still couldn’t prevent the immigration.
However, the airport face control is not too politically correct, therefore they invented the eTA system.
The Canadian authorities will decide after requesting preliminary information: based on medical papers, police data, but they can also make an interview and ask a Canadian invitation letter.
The visitor also has to inform the authorities whether he/she will have enough money to stay in Canada and will return at the end of the trip.
But they can also refuse the entry if the applicant was previously expelled from the country or his refugee application was rejected. The permission, which is valid either for 5 year or until the expiry of passport, can be claimed for 7 Canadian dollars on the Internet.
According to kanadavilaga.com, the entry permission would have been able to detect those travelers who were not allowed to get in the planes going to Canada last month. Thus, these people would only lose the CAD 7, not the entire price of the plane ticket.
based on the article of alfahir.hu
translated by BA
Budapest, July 14 (MTI) – Hungary’s Gulag Memorial Committee has offered 25 million forints (EUR 80,000) in support for a memorial to the victims of communism to be set up in Ottawa, Canada, the ministry of human resources said.
The committee was set up in February this year for coordinating the Memorial Year for Political Prisoners and Forced Labourers. It decided at its Tuesday meeting to approve the proposed support for the memorial put forward by committee head Zoltan Balog, the HR minister, a statement from the ministry said on Tuesday.
Full costs of the memorial, which is planned to pay homage to those who fled communist dictatorships, are estimated at 4 million Canadian dollars, 70 percent of which is to be covered by the Canadian government. Hungary is one of the biggest contributors, besides private individuals who were among the immigrants themselves, it said.
Canada received 43,000 Hungarian refugees after the anti-Soviet freedom fight of 1956, it added.
Photo: kolozsvariradio.ro
Canada’s ambassador to Budapest Lisa Helfand, Hungarian Minister Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó, European sales director of Air Transat Nicole Conrad and CEO of Budapest Airport Jost Lammers attending the launching ceremony at Liszt Ferenc airport on June 18, 2015.
The Canadian airline will operate weekly flights between Toronto, Montreal, and Budapest in the summer season.
The first Air Transat flight touched down at Liszt Ferenc Airport on June 18, 2015.
Photo: MTI
Budapest (MTI) – Two new direct flights between Budapest and Toronto are set to boost cooperation between Hungary and Canada, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told MTI Thursday.
Attending a two-day foreign ministerial session of the NATO states in Antalya, Turkey, where he held talks with his Canadian counterpart, Robert Nicholson, Szijjarto said one of the main topics of discussion was the direct flight connection soon to be re-established between the two countries.
Szijjarto said SkyGreece will launch direct flights between Budapest and Toronto later this month, adding that the Greek airline will operate the flight twice a week.
The minister said Canadian carrier Air Transat will launch a direct flight from Budapest to Montreal in June.
The two new transatlantic flights will boost economic ties between the two countries, Szijjarto said.
He said Canada sees Hungary as a key partner, as it is the most attractive central European investment destination for Canadian companies. Companies are investing in the automotive industry, environmental protection and real-estate development, Szijjarto added.
Referring to discussions on Hungarian-Canadian cooperation in justice and refugee affairs, Szijjarto said that nobody had to flee Hungary for political reasons.
Previously, we showed a couple of letters written by Hungarians from abroad to refute that Hungarians never stick together. Velvet.hu collected more letters, here they are.
Related article:
10 COUNTRIES WHERE HUNGARIANS STICK TOGETHER- PART 1
Russia
“I have a little (better) experience, however, I lived with my family as an expat not in the West but in the East, actually in Moscow.(…) The community is obviously much smaller than in London or in any other Western European cities. The size and composition of the community also have influence, in Moscow, there are a lot of young people with children – diplomats and senior professionals plus university students.
There is an organization called Hungarian Club of Moscow which gathers local Hungarians. The organize events – from arts and crafts through the dance house to balls with 100-150 people. There is Children’s Day and Santa Claus ceremony in the embassy – the last performer of Children’s Day was Akos (as part of his international gigs). We regularly attend sports festivals with Hungarian interests together to cheer. And interestingly, many of these friendships have remained after we returned home, we regularly meet here and in Moscow as well, because my work binds me to Russia. And if I have time, I participate in football matches once a week.”
United Arab Emirates
“I have lived abroad several times and I have several types of experience how people are looking for the company of other Hungarians.
First, I went to study and work within Europe. There, I did not want to look for the company of other Hungarians, since I wanted to integrate into the local culture and learn about the culture. In addition, it is also true that the fact that someone is Hungarian it doesn’t mean we will be friends.
Then I got a job in the UAE. Here, as I arrived, my first friend was a Hungarian and since then, I have been looking for the company of Hungarians. This is due to that cultures are very different here, this is a Muslim state, and practically only Asians work there. How well a Hungarian goulash or a Langos comes! Here I don’t feel Hungarians would envy each other, as if you don’t have a job here, you’ll be sent home, but if you do your job well, Europeans can have good job opportunities.
European culture is very different from the culture of the UAE, and while it seemed interesting in the beginning, Arab and Asian people now fully merged into my days. I somehow got used to their habits, but sometimes I think how many good things there are in Hungary, for example the speech. I like living here, it is much better financially, and it is completed by local Hungarians. At this time, I feel like being at home.”
East Africa
“We live not more than 20 of us in a more than 20 times bigger area than Hungary, in South Africa, and it is a reliable community. The usual “Hungarian” discord is unthinkable here, because of foreign culture, big distances and constant difficulties, everyone is aware that you can count on another Hungarian “as a last resort”. If not so intensely, but we keep in touch , visit each other. We gladly contact Hungarians visiting this are, most of them are tourists, and if they need help, we do it and interpret. Recently, relatives, friends came to one of the expats working here and they will spend a day with us as guests of the Hungarian orphanage.”
Canada
We’ve been living in Canada for 31 years, we have a lot of Hungarian friends who are either 56 refugees or came here after a few years later after us.
The primary motive of our relationship was language, which allowed mutual assistance, and if we wanted to relax, we didn’t have live through chatting as a wearing brain training.
However, we all know our emigration is not temporary, so it is good to embrace the local system of values, for our own good, and not always regret the world we left behind. Although we haven’t given up one thing: the Hungarian flavors.
That doesn’t mean we don’t feel ourselves home when we visit Hungary, but when the time comes to travel back, we all feel we go home.
We unwillingly watch the political dynamics of today’s Hungary, the slangs of the language almost hurts. This is not a criticism, merely reflects the evolution of language, while we remained at the level of the ’80s.
Australia
“Our group, the Hungarians in Australia, which is the biggest Facebook group for Hungarians living in Australia, has more than 2100 members and keeps growing.
I believe and profess that this “Hungarians don’t stick together abroad” is just a bad innervation. If that was true, our group wouldn’t be so large, there wouldn’t be different groups for Hungarians living in Australian cities and there wouldn’t be theme groups for Hungarians of Australia.
Of course, everyone can tell about bad experience, but if we focus on positive examples and keep count them, the assesment of Hungarians living abroad won’t be so dark.
(…) Maybe we don’t have “Hungarian quarters”, but there are also many nations who don’t, like the Germans, Swedes, French, and Dutch etc. Sticking together doesn’t depend on we have anything like that or don’t.
We are many, different and we know our own nation the best, so we tend to believe that others “don’t do this”. But yes. Other nations are not better, just different.
based on the article of velvet.hu
translated by BA
Photo: Pixabay
(MTI) – The foreign ministers of Hungary and Canada will meet in Ottawa in two weeks’ time, the first occasion in the last 13 years at this diplomatic level, the foreign ministry’s spokeswoman said on Saturday.
Judit Fulop noted that Peter Szijjarto will visit the Canadian capital after an official visit to Washington, DC. He will have talks with his counterpart John Baird.
In the course of his visit, Szijjarto will take part in an October 23 commemoration in Toronto and give a speech to locals of Hungarian origin.
The last time a Hungarian foreign minister had talks with his Canadian counterpart was in 2001, when Janos Martonyi paid a visit to the country.
Fulop noted in a statement that bilateral trade was worth almost 920 million dollars last year, making Canada Hungary’s 31st most important trading partner.
Enriched of their ancestors’ cultural identity 15 American and Canadian students of Hungarian heritage are eager to join their home communities as the 3rd year of the ReConnect Hungary – Hungarian Birthright Program concludes. The program is a public-private partnership between the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation of New York and the Hungarian Government.
During the 2-weeks long journey the group, aside from the great touristic and culinary joys the country can offer, met Hungarian decision makers (Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Resources, Árpád Potápi, State Secretary for Hungarian Communities Abroad), designers and startuppers at Budapest’s Design Terminal, Gábor Bojár of Graphisoft and Aquincum Institute of Technology, visited a young Hungarian community in Subotica, Serbia and experienced firsthand the future of Hungary’s farming culture at the biofarm of Matthew Hayes, professor of the Szent István University.
Finding out about the history of the times of their ancestors, the group visited the House of Terror Museum and the Holocaust Memorial Center.
Participants of the program, who applied from all over the United States and Canada in order to strengthen their own ties to Hungary and fill their national heritage with meaningful experiences are returning with colorful plans of further engagement. Many plan to join/re-establish the Hungarian clubs in their area or university, embrace business and political ties between their country and Hungary or come back to study in Hungary.
The program was initiated in 2012 by the former governor of New York State, George Pataki and his daughter, Allison Pataki and has been financed every year since then by the Hungarian state and donors of the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation.
Hungary missed easy chances but had enough in their armoury to pin down pointless Canada 10-3 on Day 2 of the Fina Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final at the Hamdan Sports Complex, off the Emirates Highway, Khaleej Times reports.
The khaleejtimes.com said, Hungary were held for a goal apiece by the gallant Canadians for 8 minutes. Canada surrendered their mid pool advantage to go down 0-3 in the second quarter.
Canadian Team staged a late rally in the third outing but lost out by the odd goal in five before the Hungarian attacks on the counter got them the much needed points to go top in Group B.
According to khaleejtimes.com, Vamos 2 and Varga, De 3 led the Hungarian list on the scoring sheet while Constantin-Bicari’s splendid 2-goal effort got him to be the best seen in the Canadian ranks.
Read more HERE
Photo: www.felsofokon.hu
(MTI) – Hungary’s consulate general in Toronto officially reopened on Thursday, deputy state secretary at the foreign ministry Szabolcs Takacs told MTI.
The consular mission was closed down by the previous government in 2009.
The reopening is an important measure implemented under the new nation policy launched by the government in 2010, said Takacs.
He said that under that policy a fast-track citizenship procedure had been introduced and efforts had been made for opening permanent mission in countries where a significant number of Hungarians live.
Photo: mithogyan.com
Tokaji Wine Boutique Restaurant opened in Toronto on Friday; this is the first such unit opened in North America with exclusive rights to distribute Hungarian wines in the Canadian market, hungarianamibiance.com said.
Besides being a restaurant, the commercial outlet also functions as the House of Hungarian Wines offering the products of ten renowned wineries, altogether forty different types of wine brands.
The opening ceremony has been attended by officials of the Hungarian consulate, the deputy-mayor of Toronto Gino Rosati and regional councilor Michael DeBiase.
The managing director of Vinum Tokaj International Zsigmond Balla talked about the company’s future plans; in the near future two more Tokaji Wine Boutique Restaurants will open in New York city and Los Angeles.
The president of Drink Tokaji Attila Balla said this event was the first step of a marketing initiative to promote Hungarian wines in North-America launched by the Hungarian government.
Read more HERE.
Photo: dailynewshungary.com
The Western Canadian Hungarian Folk Festival is coming to Lethbridge to celebrate its 35th year.
Hosted by the Hungarian Cultural Society of Southern Alberta, the event will take place Oct. 11-14. This marks the fourth time Lethbridge has hosted the annual event, which will bring Hungarian dance groups from Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg. There will be approximately 200 dancers plus their supporters from the four Western provinces.
Music will be provided by the folk band Gyanta, whose members are Hungarians from Toronto and Montreal, as well as guest musicians from Hungary, Edmonton and Calgary. There will also be two highly decorated dance instructors from Hungary who will teach and critique the performances.
The Yates will be the venue for the three concerts: a musical concert Saturday night (Oct. 12) beginning at 7 p.m. as well as dance performances Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 and 7 p.m. The concerts will showcase the unique music, colourful costumes and lively dances of the various regions of Hungary.
Tickets for the performances are available from the Yates and Enmax ticket centres, priced at $20 each for adults, $17.50 for seniors and students, and $10 for children under 12. Bundled performance tickets for the weekend are also available at a discounted price.
“Tanc-haz” (folk dance parties) will be held nightly at the Sandman Hotel and the public is welcome to participate. There will be a $10 charge for each evening of dance and music and including a light midnight snack. The Sandman is also home to the weekend’s workshops of dance, crafts, music and singing.
An intricate wooden gate, carved by hand in a tradition passed down through generations, graces the entrance to the Hungarian Canadian Club of Waterloo-Wellington on Kossuth Road.
It was erected this summer, the vision of longtime club member Jeno Ankucza and the product of donations from generous members eager to honour the club’s 50th anniversary in 2012. “He dreamed of doing something significant for this anniversary,” said club president Tünde Volford, sitting alongside Ankucza at the hall. “It’s the start of the next 50 years.”
The massive five-tonne ornamental gate was carved out of oak, using traditional techniques that require almost no hardware. A connected fence was built out of oak and pine. The style of gate is known as a Székely gate, named for — and familiar in — a region in present-day Romania inhabited largely by Hungarian people from eastern Transylvania. Professional woodcarvers Sándor Petho and Attila Borbandi, from the Transylvanian village of Torja, came to Cambridge to oversee the project.
“They were teaching us, showing us all the old ways,” Ankucza said, adding that at least 50 people worked on the project. “The beauty of it, they were young and old and anywhere in between,” he said. It took about five weeks to carve and construct the gate, once a design was finalized. The project was funded by private donations from club members, Volford said. Ariss Fencing loaned equipment and three employees to the project. Carvings on the gate and fence include a map of old Hungary with a coat of arms held by two angels, celestial symbols like the sun, moon and stars, rosettes and tulips.
The words of the Hungarian poet Daniel Berzsenyi are written along the top of the gate. Translated, they read “It is not by numbers but by soul and freedom that we can accomplish great things.” Another inscription on the gate reads: “To your ancestors’ holy faith and to your nation’s roots — brothers and sisters — never be unfaithful.”
Ankucza said it is the largest and most complex gate of its kind in North America. In addition to the gate and fence, a wooden monument to a pivotal Hungarian battle victory in the year 907 was also erected in front of the club. Acquired by about 100 Hungarian families in 1962, the club’s stone building, now known as Kossuth Hall, was originally built in the 1870s as a schoolhouse in the hamlet of Kossuth. Situated along the road from Preston to Guelph, the hamlet once boasted a pottery works, post office and a hotel.
According to the Waterloo Region Museum, the hamlet may have been named in honour of 19th-century Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth. However, the name could also have come from a landowner who owned properties in the settlement.
The club now has about 150 members, with many others who support its events. Volford and Ankucza said the new gate honours their past while looking to the future. “We would like to send a message to the original members that we are capable of continuing their great work,” Ankucza said.
