Before the signing, Bertalan Havasi, the PM’s press chief, noted that the government had issued a decree with the aim of helping persecuted Christian families stay in, or return to, their homelands in the Middle East. Fully 580 million forints (EUR 1.9m) has been set aside to restore the houses in Telskuf.

The patriarch told reporters after the signing ceremony that Iraq’s Christians are in dire need of solidarity and seek help to rebuild settlements destroyed by the Islamic State terrorist organisation.

Iraqi Christians will not respond to violence with violence; they do not seek to establish a state of their own, they just want peace and security, he added

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi