Hungary FM Tells Journalists and Politicians Spreading Fake News to Show Self-Restraint

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has called on journalists and politicians to exercise self-restraint and stop spreading fake news in a video posted from Mar-a-Lago, pointing out that in a critical situation they could put Hungary in danger.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Photo: MTI/Boglarka Bodnar)

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto posted a video to comment on the fake news about Bashar al-Assad's arrival in Hungary at the weekend.

In recent days, both the Hungarian and international media have been widely covering the situation in Syria, being located in a region where the presence of terrorist organizations is unfortunately a daily phenomenon, and their brutality is well known, the minister pointed out. Regretfully, in this case again, "political profiteering" soon started in Hungary as the fake news caught hold on Sunday morning that a mysterious plane form Syria had landed in Budapest, he said, stressing that these reports were completely untrue.

Some politicians pounced on this news and created a huge fake news tsunami from it,

the foreign minister said.

The thing is, this isn't Fortnite, this is reality. There is a struggle going on in the Middle East deeply involving terrorist organizations, and a piece of such fake news can put an entire country, an entire nation, in very serious danger,

he warned.

The fake news that started to spread on Sunday was very dangerous, Peter Szijjarto emphasized, pointing out that Hungary has an embassy in Syria, which was evacuated in time, but soldiers reportedly appeared there, and there are Hungarians, even if not many, living in the country. Syria has an embassy in Budapest, which could have become the target of an attack. Terrorist organisations are international in nature, and they can certainly mount terrorist attacks against Hungarian interests, people and communities anywhere in the world if the terrorists were to act on information that justifies their way of thinking, he explained.

Therefore, I would like to respectfully ask all Hungarian journalists and all Hungarian politicians to exercise self-restraint in such situations, and try to behave a little responsibly, assessing the danger that spreading such fake news can pose to Hungary and to the Hungarian people. This time, fortunately, no fatal tragedy occurred, but it could have,

the minister of foreign affairs and trade underscored. 

Therefore, I once again ask journalists and politicians to refrain from making domestic political gains with lies and fake news, out of a desire for revenge, because by doing so in such a critical situation, they can put Hungarian people and even a country in danger. We hope that everyone has learned from this incident and that Hungarian journalists or Hungarian politicians will never again engage in such irresponsible and dangerous behavior,

Peter Szijjarto said in conclusion.

Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Photo: MTI/Boglarka Bodnar)