Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the international community must take action against the persecution of Christians in the Middle East in view of the deteriorating situation in Lebanon and Syria.
During a press conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Minister Szijjártó said the Middle East crisis had been the first item on the meeting's agenda, in view of the dangerous situation developed in the region which posed a threat to security not only in Europe but the whole world.
Events of the recent period demonstrated how easily the Middle East conflict could escalate and "could be lethal to global security if it collides with the war in Ukraine, which has also escalated," Minister Szijjártó said.
He said Hungary's position was clear. "Avoiding escalation is extremely important to us. As a result, we greatly appreciate a great part of the Arab countries’ reserved and stabilising role in this conflict," he said, pointing to Jordan and the Gulf states as examples.
“At the same time, we understand that if the Middle East crisis expands to further countries, it will be very difficult to keep it under control," he added.
He said it was important to stop terrorists "from turning the lives of communities and entire countries into a living hell". "Terrorist organisations must be wiped out and anti-terrorism operations must be successful," he added.
Further, civilians must be protected during military operations, he said. He said it was an important element of the Hungarian position that hostages were immediately and unconditionally freed. Authorities knew of one Hungarian hostage in Hamas captivity, he said, expressing hope that that person would be freed as soon as possible.
Minister Szijjártó stressed that the suffering of Christian communities had intensified in recent weeks as a result of the developments in Lebanon and Syria, with many of them forced to flee their homes.
He welcomed the ceasefire in Lebanon and called on all participants to respect it.
“Hungary continues to maintain support for Christian communities in Lebanon and we maintain our programmes for the renovation of Christian churches, helping Christian communities, and operating Christian institutions," he said.
Commenting on the developments in Syria, he said that the Christian community had been present in Aleppo for two thousand years. He said Hungary was offering help under the arrangements of the Hungary Helps scheme, and cited the reconstruction of a local hospital of the Syrian Orthodox church.
He said the rebels, who included some terrorists, had taken over control in the city’s Christian quarter, Christians were intimidated on a regular basis, and Christian symbols get vandalised, resulting in thousands trying to flee.
“The Hungarian government maintains the practice of providing rapid aid to persecuted Christian communities," he said. “We express solidarity to Syrian Christians, we continually support them, and we consider it unacceptable and scandalous that they want to oust the two thousand-year-old Christian community from the cradle of Christianity," he added.
“It should be the plain duty of the international community to raise their voices and act against the persecution of Christian communities in the Middle East," he said. “However, the international community has not been able to fulfil this obligation as a result of some form of misinterpreted political correctness," he added.