President Novák tries to defend Chief of General Staff's historical distortion, but Polish ambassador expects an apology

Hungarian President Katalin Novák took to Twitter to try to explain the scandalous statement by newly appointed Chief of General Staff Gábor Böröndi that World War II could have been prevented if the world had made peace with Nazi Germany before it was too late.

When the world war broke out in 1939, the Polish state was swept away in a matter of days, first by Nazi and then by Soviet troops. It is therefore understandable that Böröndi's statement outraged Sebastian Kęciek, Poland's ambassador in Budapest, who wrote an open letter in response to the scandalous statement.

"We consider these words, which can be interpreted as accusing my country of being complicit in the escalation of a global conflict, an unacceptable distortion of history which should not be uttered, especially by a representative of a close ally."
- Kęciek wrote in his open letter.

Although neither the Chief of General Staff, nor the Defence Ministry led by Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky reacted to the statement, on Thursday Katalin Novák came to Böröndi's defence in an English-language Twitter post:

"As the Commander-in-chief and the President of Hungary, I am well aware that the new CHOD has many things to do: such as confronting the threats of the war in Ukraine and modernizing the army. Historical debates and interpretations are better left to historians."

– the President wrote on her social media page. Interestingly, the statement has not been published in Hungarian, and there is no trace of it anywhere except on Twitter – neither on Katalin Novák's Facebook page nor on the website of the Presidential office.

The Polish ambassador was not satisfied with the statement:

"Madam President, one sentence, even word, would be sufficient."

– Sebastian Kęciek wrote in his reply, also on Twitter. The ambassador presumably meant that he would be happy if Chief of General Staff Gábor Böröndi, the Ministry of Defence, the government, the President or anyone representing the Hungarian state apologised for the offence caused to Poland.

Speaking at an open event a few weeks ago, Sebastian Kęciek said that although relations between Hungary and Poland remain close, the two states' positions had diverged sharply over the war in Ukraine. Kęciek said that there was a need for honesty and openness in the cooperation between the two countries and the channels of communication – both between the two countries and among the Visegrád Four should be rebuilt. For the time being, however, there seems to be no real willingness on the part of the Hungarian state to do so.