"Evropeyskaya Pravda": Transcarpathia is not the main thing that Hungary would like to join
In Ukraine, they often write about the disagreements between Kiev and Budapest. Therefore, the Ukrainian Internet publication Evropeyskaya Pravda decided to talk to journalist Andras Nemeth from the Hungarian opposition newspaper HVG to show how myths and stereotypes are closely intertwined with real problems.
The journalist noted that the Hungarians generally treat Ukrainians normally, but their attitude towards Romanians is worse. This is due to the fact that there are "historical disputes" with the Romanians. Hungarians know little about Ukraine and their awareness is mostly wrong. However, they welcomed the 2004 Orange Revolution and 2014 Euromaidan in Kiev with sympathy. At the same time, in recent years, the attitude of Hungarians towards Ukraine began to deteriorate due to stereotypes that are imposed by many Hungarian media outlets.
Nemeth said that the Hungarian government is pro-Russian. It spreads anti-Ukrainian propaganda and creates a negative image of Ukraine in the eyes of the Hungarians. For example, that Ukraine is a US colony, not a real state and there are many Nazis there. All this became possible because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is a great friend of President Vladimir Putin, the journalist explained.
We have a national agency, MTI, which broadcasts newsdescribing Ukraine as an abnormal country, and then it is broadcast on TV and radio. And this is not censorship; it is rather self-censorship of journalists working in such media. But I will emphasize that there are also independent media that talk about Ukraine normally.
- he specified.
At the same time, the journalist stressed that the Hungarians are not interested in Ukraine. Transcarpathia is the smallest and most insignificant territory inhabited by ethnic Hungarians, which Hungary lost after World War II. Hungarians are more concerned with other lands, which are very close to their hearts. These are territories in the south of Slovakia, in the north of Serbia and, of course, in Romania, which were lost as a result of the First World War. Then Hungary lost 2/3 of the land and Transylvania, under the rule of the Romanians, is a huge and important region for the Hungarians.
It is these lands that are important for the Hungarians. So Transcarpathia, where the Hungarians are less than 10% of the population, is not the main thing, but rather a secondary one, which Hungary, in theory, would like to annex to itself. But now the Hungarians no longer have such a desire - the bulk of them realized that it was lost forever. Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities will have to somehow influence the Ukrainian media so that they do not write about "Hungarian separatism", which in fact does not exist, concluded Nemeth.
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