Magyar on Balázs Orbán: Such a person should not hold public office next to the Prime Minister

Hungarian opposition politicians have been reacting to Balázs Orbán's statements about 1956, in which he said – among others – that “Based precisely on '56, we probably would not have done what President Zelensky did 2.5 years ago, because it is irresponsible, because one can see that he took his country into a war of defense”.

In a statement sent to Telex, Péter Magyar of the Tisza Party said that "Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister's Political Director has gone too far. With his outrageous statement he managed to sacrifice the 13 brightest days of Hungary's 20th-century history on the altar of despicable daily propaganda. Orbán's sentences humiliated the memory of the thousands of Hungarian freedom fighters, hundreds of whom – unlike Balázs Orbán – were willing to sacrifice their lives for the freedom and independence of their country'.

Magyar said that Orbán's statements also trampled on the very foundations of Hungarian constitutionalism and independence. "Such a person should not hold public office next to the Hungarian prime minister, he must leave before October 23." (October 23rd is a national holiday in Hungary. This is when the country remembers the defeated 1956 uprising against the Hungarian government of the time, the policies of which were a result of the leadership's subordination to the Soviet Union. The revolution was crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. – ed.)

Ferenc Gyurcsány, chairman of the Democratic Coalition, (DK) reacted on Facebook, saying that the words of the prime minister's political director meant that "the Orbán government would hand Hungary over to the Russians without resistance".

LMP co-chair Péter Ungár issued a statement in which he wrote that “...the question arises: how many counties, cities and settlements would Balázs Orbán hand over to an aggressor? He should let us know exactly how much Hungarian territory he considers worth sacrificing, and the Prime Minister should state whether he agrees with Balázs Orbán's words.”

The Mindenki Magyarországa Néppárt (Everybody's Hungary People's Party – MMN), founded by Péter Márki-Zay said it was shocking that "unlike Ukraine, the Fidesz government would not defend itself against Russian military aggression." According to MMN, this admission is downright treasonous and, in their view, constitutes a direct threat to the security and sovereignty of the Hungarian people. "Balázs Orbán's statements have clearly shown that Fidesz does not represent the interests of Hungarians, but is acting as an ally of Putin. What will be the next step, Mr Orbán? Will you perhaps invite the Russians in?" – they asked.

They later added that they are calling on the Sovereignty Protection Office to launch an investigation into Balázs Orbán's statement.

"And these Russian hireling nobodies consider themselves the heirs of the young revolutionaries of 1956..." – Momentum chair Márton Tompos said, reacting to Balázs Orbán's statements, while Dávid Bedő, the leader of Momentum’s parliamentary group wrote that for him the lesson of the revolution is not what Balázs Orbán communicated, but that “we must fight for the freedom of the nation even if the fight seems hopeless. We shouldn't bow before the aggressor but should instead resist. This is the reason why I am proud of my grandparents, who took part in the events of 1956 and fought for Hungary's freedom.”

According to Bedő, this is precisely why Ukraine's struggle should be supported, because Hungary knows exactly what it is like to be without help. “This is why we have a particularly great responsibility to speak up clearly, in a straightforward fashion and from a local moral standpoint when an independent state is attacked by Russia through military aggression, which is also what Viktor Orbán once used to believe. Ukraine does not need clever talk, it needs weapons and real help, just as the Hungarians did in 1956.”

László Toroczkai, leader of Mi Hazánk, posted on X that "Balázs Orbán is talking nonsense", adding that it is difficult to understand what he meant when he said that what we learnt from 1956 is that Hungary should not defend itself. According to Toroczkai, "the heroes of 1956 taught us precisely that Hungary's independence must be defended against any external attack", but he adds that Hungary's sovereignty currently isn't threatened by Russia, but by the United States.

Balázs Orbán reacted to the criticism on his Facebook page:

"There is no stopping the bandwagon of the war propaganda press. Hungary's position is clear: we see no point in the Ukrainian-Russian war that has been going on for more than two and a half years," he wrote. According to Balázs Orbán, the Russian-Ukrainian war should never have started and it should have been brought to an end as soon as possible through diplomatic channels.

"Contrasting the Hungarian heroes of 1956 with this current Hungarian position is a common method of the foreign-funded propaganda press and the pro-war politicians, which I find outrageous and reject each and every time – as was also stated in my recent interview! It would be nice if the war and the pro-war lies would finally end!" – he wrote.