Another visa scandal: Editor-in-chief of national sports paper denied US entry

Gyorgy Szollosi, editor-in-chief of Nemzeti Sport newspaper, was to open the jubilee 25th Arpad Cup on Friday morning at the invitation of the Hungarian Cultural Council of Chicago. However, the sports diplomacy trip was thwarted because the US Embassy in Budapest refused to issue him a visa, despite an official request for a diplomatic visa from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. In the meantime, the Hungarian National Media Association has also reacted to the incident.

Budapest, 2022. december 30. Szöllõsi György, az MSÚSZ elnöke a Magyar Sportújságírók Szövetsége (MSÚSZ) és az M4 Sport Az Év Sportolója Gálájának sajtótájékoztatóján a Magyar Állami Operaházban 2022. december 30-án. A férfiaknál a rövidpályás gyorskorcsolyázó Liu Shaoang, az úszó Milák Kristóf és a kardvívó Szilágyi Áron, a nõknél az öttusázó Gulyás Michelle, a tornász Kovács Zsófia és az atléta Kozák Luca került a legjobb három közé a MSÚSZ 65. alkalommal kiírt Év sportolója-szavazásán. MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt Fotó: Szigetváry Zsolt

"At the invitation of the Hungarian community of Chicago, I was to participate in the traditional football tournament for North American Hungarians - now the 25th anniversary Arpad Cup, which the Hungarian Cultural Council of Chicago requested I open on Friday morning," writes Gyorgy Szollosi, editor-in-chief of Nemzeti Sport, in a post shared on his social media page. As he writes, the trip to the US would have also been an opportunity to report to the readers of Nemzeti Sport on the details of the Messi craze on the continent, as well as talking to local colleagues and soccer officials (several official meetings were in the pipeline). He would have also met with national team member and MLS player Daniel Gazdag, who is now playing for the Philadelphia Union team, to report on what he saw there, just as he did a few years ago when he visited Kansas City, where a number of Hungarians were employed. 

The plan, however, went up in smoke when the US Embassy in Budapest refused to issue Mr Szollosi a visa, despite the Foreign Ministry's official request for a diplomatic visa.

"This is especially incomprehensible because as a sports journalist and as an official representative - an ambassador - of Hungary, I was denied entry," writes the Nemzeti Sport editor-in-chief. 

"It's not the personal injury that hurts - although it is quite striking that I became persona non grata in the USA, and it would have been important to meet Hungarian friends and sports colleagues in the US - but the humiliation that my country and the unfavorable press, that a media representative and the family of sports journalists suffer at the hands of the United States, which was once the citadel and the champion of freedom of speech. The US, it seems, feels American democracy is under threat from me, the Hungarian sports journalist, while making such a decision against a citizen of one of its allies - that is, to put it mildly, embarrassing and reminiscent of the Cold War era" - concludes Mr Szollosi's post.

 

Banning and expelling by the once land of liberty - the Hungarian National Media Association told Magyar Nemzet in response

The Hungarian National Media Association is outraged to learn that the US Embassy has denied entry to Gyorgy Szollosi, editor-in-chief of Nemzeti Sport and board member of our organisation, the association said in a statement sent to our newspaper.

"Our association has always stood for freedom of expression and information. We firmly reject the use of any power, out of whatever interests, to prevent our honest colleagues from carrying out their work. 

We find it particularly outrageous and saddening that this decision was made regarding a citizen of an allied country by the United States of America, a super power that once proclaimed freedom and human rights,"

the statement stressed. The association protests against this unprecedented, exclusionary and gross violation of rights and call on all colleagues and professional organisations domestically and from across the border to speak out for freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Pressman likely behind visa sanctions against Hungary

As reported by Magyar Nemzet, the tightening of the travel restrictions for Hungarian citizens to the US announced in early August had also surprised the top management of the Hungarian administration, a senior official told our newspaper, requesting anonymity. And another source close to the government said that the US is hardening its stance - as perceived by Hungary - at the urging of Ambassador David Pressman.

The US has reduced the validity period for Hungarian passport holders applying for a travel authorization from two years to one year through the electronic system that approves authorizations, and also limited it to one-time entry, as of 1 August. According to Bence Retvari, parliamentary state secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, the visa restrictions can be seen as a kind of revenge, as Hungary is not willing to hand over to the Americans the data of the 900,000 Hungarians abroad with dual citizenship.

The matter was also addressed by Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, who addressed Hungary in a five-part message on X.

The Biden cabinet is bizarrely attacking one of Europe's most prestigious countries and one of the US's most important allies, Hungary, which is currently the world leader in terms of its family-friendly policies and the protection of culture and traditions, in Congressman Gosar's view.

He believes that as opposed to globalists and Marxists, the Hungarian government puts its people first, which enrages the Biden administration.

Cover photo: Gyorgy Szollosi, editor-in-chief of Nemzeti Sport (Photo: MTI)