After seven months, Hungarian textbook that infuriated Ukrainians still not rewritten

Despite the government's promise, the eighth-grade geography textbook that caused a diplomatic scandal by writing about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the Russian annexation of Crimea from a rather pro-Russian perspective still hasn't been rewritten, Hvg.hu reports.

For example, about Crimea's 2014 occupation by Russian forces, and its subsequent annexation to Russia in a referendum that was not recognised by the international community, the textbook wrote: "In the parts of the country inhabited by Russian nationals, a fifth of the population speaks a mixed Russian-Ukrainian language. In spite of this, there are frequent conflicts between the two ethnic groups, and their opposition has resulted in an armed conflict for the Crimean peninsula (4.2.).”

In addition to the text, the illustration of the textbook also provoked strong indignation from some of those concerned, with the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanding the immediate correction of "false information about Ukraine" in the textbooks. Additionally, the interim Chargé d'Affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest handed a verbal diplomatic note to the Foreign Ministry protesting against the textbook.

NGOs also spoke out against the textbook: four NGOs of the Ukrainian minority in Hungary sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior last September and were subsequently received two weeks later in a face-to-face meeting at the Ministry. At the time, the government made the promise to rewrite the page which conveyed the Russian narrative about Ukraine in the online version of the textbook. Moreover, they promised the NGOs that the part of next year's textbook on Ukraine would be sent to them for prior consultation.

Civilians have also spoken out against the textbook: four Ukrainian NGOs in Hungary sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior last September and were received two weeks later in a face-to-face meeting at the Ministry. The government promised them at the time to rewrite the page on the online version of the textbook, which conveyed the Russian narrative about Ukraine. Moreover, they promised the civilians that the part of next year's textbook on Ukraine would be sent to them for prior consultation.

Seven months have passed since then, but so far no progress has been made on the measures promised by the Interior Ministry, Hvg.hu learned from representatives of the NGOs involved in the consultations. According to them, the government has not contacted them with the new draft of the text, and they haven't seen the chapter on Ukraine in the new textbook to be used from autumn. On 3 May, the newspaper sent questions to the Ministry of Interior about the textbook, but has not received a reply so far.