Szijjártó holds conversation with Lavrov about controversial Russian history textbook
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has described how he and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov discussed a Russian history textbook in which the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is referred to as "fascist" on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Source: Péter Szijjártó, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, in an interview with Magyar Nemzet.
The Hungarian foreign minister said he raised the issue during a conversation with his Russian counterpart. Szijjártó says it is unacceptable to label the Hungarian heroes of the 1956 revolution as fascists.
Quote: "The fact that the people who defended Hungary's freedom and sovereignty are heroes is something we don't even want to discuss at any level, because it is a fact," Szijjártó stressed.
Szijjártó said Lavrov had made it clear that Russia perceives a statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days before their meeting, in which a clear position was laid out, as authoritative.
"How can we find common ground with those who perceive as liberation what we perceive as occupation?" Szijjártó said.
At the same time, he said it was clear that Hungary will never see eye to eye with Russia regarding the past, so they should shape their relations with the Russian Federation with this in mind.
Background:
- Szijjártó is the first Hungarian official to comment on the Russian propaganda textbook which refers to the participants of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution as "fascists".
- Asked how the Hungarian government assesses the distortion of historical events in a textbook officially approved for use in Russia, Szijjártó said that "there are some issues that the government does not even want to discuss".
- In a history textbook for final-year students officially approved for use in Russia, the participants of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution are referred to as fascists and "insurgent radicals" who fought against Soviet monuments.
- "The catalyst for the Hungarian crisis was the actions of Western secret services and the domestic opposition they supported," the "history textbook" claims. It also criticises the Hungarians for "deciding to abandon the Stalinist legacy".
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