Árpád János Potápi lauded Satu Mare (Szatmárnémeti) as a shining example.Continue reading
Árpád János Potápi, Secretary of State for National Policy at the Prime Minister’s Office, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday. He served as Secretary of State from June 15, 2014 until his death on October 17, 2024.
Árpád János Potápi was born on March 28, 1967, in Bonyhád (southwestern Hungary). He graduated from the Petőfi Sándor High School in the town in 1985. In 1991, he obtained a degree in Hungarian Language and Literature and History at the Gyula Juhász Teacher Training College in Szeged (southern Hungary), and in 1994, he graduated with a degree in History from Eötvös Loránd University. From 1991 to 1998, he worked as a teacher. From 1998 to 2011, he was the President of the National Association of Szeklers from Bukovina and from 2002 to 2014, he served as Mayor of Bonyhád.
He entered politics in 1993, and was the campaign manager for Fidesz in Bonyhád in the 1994 parliamentary elections. From 2007, he was the chairman of the Tolna County Election Committee, and from 2011 until April 2014, he was a deputy leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group. Since 1998, he has been an individual Member of Parliament. Between 2011 and 2014, he was Chairman of the Committee of National Cohesion of the National Assembly.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said farewell to the State Secretary, who died at the age of 57, on his social media page:
Árpád Potápi has fought for all Hungarians, and now he is at rest. Goodbye, my friend! You will be missed.”
Árpád János Potápi had made unparalleled contributions as a key player in national policy over the past decade and a half, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and Minister of Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás emphasized in memory of the politician. In a joint statement, they stressed that
Árpád János Potápi did his utmost to ensure that national unity, as a guiding principle of the Hungarian government’s national policy, would become a tangible reality for all Hungarians around the world.
Zsolt Semjén also posted on his social networking site: “Goodbye, Árpád.”
The leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group, Máté Kocsis, called the State Secretary a great warrior of Hungarian national policy, whose death is a huge loss and an unimaginable blow for the parliamentary group. We share the grief of his family. Goodbye, Árpi!,” he wrote.
Opposition parties have also expressed their condolences to Mr. Potápi’s relatives and political community. In a statement sent to MTI, LMP- Hungary’s Green Party said that the State Secretary’s public service and his work in the field of national policy left a lasting mark on all Hungarians, and his merits in deepening relations between Hungarians living beyond the borders and the motherland are unparalleled. The party expressed its condolences to all his relatives and political community.
The Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) stressed that the party’s leadership was deeply saddened to learn of Potápi’s death. “We express our sincere condolences to his family. God rest his soul,” their statement concluded.
Respect and Freedom (TISZA) Party President Péter Magyar also expressed condolences on behalf of the party to the family and the political community of the State Secretary and Member of Parliament. “Mr. State Secretary, dear Árpád, Farewell!,” he wrote in his statement.
Political and civil society organizations and institutions in Transylvania have also expressed their condolences on their community pages. Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), called the State Secretary an “old friend” in his farewell message on his Facebook page.
He has actively served and persistently shaped the national policy of the past decade and a half. He has helped where he could.
He is mourned by every Hungarian community in Transylvania where he has visited in recent years. Farewell, Árpád!,” wrote the RMDSZ president.
Via MTI; Featured image via Hungary Today