Hungary FM: Sixty-Nine Years Ago Hungarians Sent a Clear Message to the World

Sixty-nine years ago, the Hungarian people sent a clear message to the world that they were not willing to sacrifice their sovereignty and freedom at any price, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Washington on Wednesday, addressing a ceremony organized to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1956 Revolution.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Washington, DC (Photo: MTI)

Even today, we must sometimes fight for freedom though in different ways than in 1956. But the values that Hungarians associate with their nation are still worth fighting for, time and again,

he said. He added that although communism was defeated, those who now seek to turn the world into a place beyond nations and Christianity are, in essence, reviving communism by using similar tactics. Hungary will never give up its values, its traditions, or its heritage, remaining faithful to more than a thousand years of statehood, he emphasized.

Christopher Landau, Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, said at the ceremony that US-Hungarian relations were perhaps the best they have ever been between the two countries.

It is a pleasure to see Hungary as one of our closest allies, a nation that has been a torchbearer for freedom and national sovereignty, sometimes alone, not only in 1956, but ever since, and especially in recent years,

Christopher Landau said, adding that Hungary and the US "stand shoulder to shoulder" in support of these shared values.

He said the US appreciated Hungary's efforts to build bridges between the West and the East, and noted that this is why US President Donald  Trump proposed Budapest as the venue for his planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

He added that the US government was grateful for Hungary's efforts to "tirelessly" promote peace in Ukraine.

James Danly, US Deputy Secretary of Energy, also attended the commemoration ceremony at the Hungarian Embassy as a member of the Trump administration.

 Elizabeth Spalding, founding director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and president of the foundation associated with the institution, received a high-ranking Hungarian state award at the ceremony.

Ambassador Szabolcs Takacs introduced the awardee as a "third-generation anti-communist" who brought with her from her family a resistance to communist ideology and became the founder of the Washington institution commemorating the victims of communism.

Violinist Zoltan Maga and his orchestra performed at the ceremony held in the U.S. capital, the Hungarian state news agency MTI wrote.

Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Washington, DC (Photo: MTI)