National minority schools will practically cease to exist in Ukraine, according to Péter Szijjártó.Continue reading
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó gave an interview to news portal Index on the war in Ukraine and the situation of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia.
“We would like the Hungarians to regain the rights they had in Ukraine in 2014,” Foreign Minister Szijjártó explained. “So they should be able to study in Hungarian up to university level, they should be able to graduate from high school in their mother tongue, and they should not have to spoil Hungarian performances in Transcarpathian cultural centers with Ukrainian simultaneous interpretation,” he explained. “The problem is really pressing now, because from September this year, minority schools will practically disappear. There will only be state schools with minority language teaching,” he warned.
Szijjártó pointed out that the arms transfer and the deprivation of the rights of the Hungarian national community had nothing to do with one other.
We do not supply arms because we believe that it will clearly only lead to the prolongation and escalation of the war,”
he stressed. Szijjártó said that “it is strange to be constantly confronted with the Kiev leadership berating us, even though we are Ukraine’s neighbors, so we are practically the ones who are feeling the most negative effects of the war, a war that we did not start and, moreover, we did not block any international decision that would have been important for the Ukrainians.” “This is not fair,” he added.
Regarding his Minsk talks, the minister stressed that “the channels of communication must be left open so that the opposing sides can at some point engage in substantive talks.” “If this channel is not open, there is no possibility for any negotiations and there is no hope for peace,” he added.
On whether Prime Minister Viktor Orbán plans to visit Kiev, Szijjártó said that “when the time is right, the Hungarian Prime Minister will go, and the Foreign Ministry is currently working on preparations for this.”
Featured photo via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter
