Orban said Hungary was faced with a decision about whether to "bow to the will of foreigners, the will of Brussels" or to resist it. "This grave decision awaits Hungary right now," he added.

"Our reaction must be as clear and unambiguous as it was in 1956," he declared.

Orban said Hungary would not take part in struggles between empires. "We want one thing only, to live in peace here in the Carpathian Basin ... according to our rules while seeking our own happiness."

Referring to the Russia-Ukraine war, he said Europe's economy was "falling into the war" and "millions of families" would be "ruined" unless action was taken to stop the tendency. "Let's not drop this, my friends!"

Orban said the revolution had shown that "we must only ever fight for Hungary and Hungarians' freedom."

He said Hungary was again faced with "an old choice" of whether to "bow to the will of foreigners, the will of Brussels" or to resist it. "This grave decision awaits Hungary right now,"he added.

"Our response must be as clear and unambiguous as it was in 1956," he declared.

Orban said Hungary would not take part in struggles between empires. "We want one thing only, to live in peace here in the Carpathian Basin ... according to our rules while seeking our own happiness."

Hungarians, he said, had proven "a hundred times" that they would not give in "if the current empire blackmails them".

Referring to the opposition Tisza Party and its leader Peter Magyar, the prime minister added that Brussels had already chosen their puppet government, "and they have just the man ... an ideal candidate"to head it.

Noting the recent debate in the European Parliament concerning Hungary's EU presidency, Orban said it was clear to the entire country that the government had defended Hungarian interests and freedom "against the imperial policy of the European Union", while the Hungarian opposition had "offered its services to the empire".

He said protecting family and country was "a right-wing national tradition", while "betraying family and country" was in "the internationalist tradition", adding that "the new opposition is doing the same as the old one: inviting foreigners"into the country to run it.

Orban then noted that in the story of David and Goliath, many sided with Goliath but in the end "David wins".

He said Bela Kun, the Hungarian communist revolutionary who governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, went to Vienna, while Matyas Rakosi, who led Hungary from 1947 to 1956, went to Moscow; "and the current ones have gone to Brussels".

The prime minister accused Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar of "sitting at their table beside" European Peoples Party leader Manfred Weber, which he called "a real conspiracy taking place before the country and the world ... a new 21st century love story."

He said opposition figures who cut a symbolic hole in the middle of the Hungarian flag "won't make you a patriot in 2024".

"Throwing a Molotov cocktail doesn't make you a hero of fifty-six. It's not the clothes that make a freedom fighter ... only actions matter, and actions speak for themselves."

Orban said the 1956 revolution had created unity and a common will but had lacked the strength necessary to take sovereign action.

"Today, the right-wing government has the backing of strong national unity, a common will and strength,"he said. "Today, there's an opportunity to take sovereign action, and I promise you that we shall use it."

"We shan't allow Hungary to be turned into a puppet state, a vassal of Brussels," Orban declared.

Orban said the 1956 revolution had created unity and a common will but had lacked the strength necessary to take sovereign action.

"To be Hungarian means to fight; this is the message and the demand of the heroes of fifty-six."

"We Hungarians can and will do it. We will do it again," Orban said.

At the beginning of his speech, the prime minister thanked special guests invited to the event who helped to protect the country during the recent floods, adding that disaster managers, soldiers, police and volunteers had been "superhuman".

"Hungarians are a freedom-loving and freedom-fighting people", Orban said, declaring that no occupier had succeeded in taming Hungarians.

The Soviet Union's imperialistic oppression had "shackled and immiserated Hungarians, who suffered under a puppet government", one that comprised "Hungarian collaborators tasked with passing Hungarians' goods into foreign hands and putting Hungarians' work and life force into the service of imperial interests."

He said that empires preferred to be invited in and "will do everything to guarantee there's a Hungarian who calls them in". The Soviet Union wanted a Hungarian Communist puppet government to beg Soviet troops to stay in the country, he said.

Non-communists were imprisoned on trumped-up charges, and Hungarians cornered by fear-mongering, blackmail and violence, he said. "They imprisoned those they didn't like, took what they did, and put their comrades in power using election fraud."

But Hungarians, he added, did not "tolerate humiliation", and Soviet forces ultimately left the country, he added.

"All puppet governments and empires should understand and never forget that we waged the brightest freedom fight of world revolutions. We taught them forever: never hurt Hungarians," he said.

Today, "the writing is on the wall again, we can all see the signs, and we will have to keep history ... on its proper course in this coming year," Orban said.

The war in Hungary's neighbourhood, he said, had been raging for three years, "bloodier and more desperate" than ever, "and no one knows how long it will last".

Hundreds of thousands, he added, had perished on the frontline, while Europe's economy "has taken a fatal blow" as "uncounted money" was poured into Ukraine. "Developments have stalled, prices are sky-high, and European companies are suffering."

Meanwhile, EU sanctions harmed Europe more than Russia, with investors fleeing to the US, he said.

"The world is closer to a world war than ever in the past 70 years," Orban said. "Everyone pretends not to see that the emperor has no clothes."

He said Europe's leaders, "the Brussels bureaucrats", had led the West into a "hopeless war". "Their heads are addled by the hope of victory and they see this as the West's war against Russia that they have to win, bring the enemy to its knees and squeeze them for everything they've got."

Orban said attempts were being made to push the entire EU into the war. "They have published the new victory plan which amounts to expanding the war," he added.
 

Orban said the victory plan involved an immediate NATO invitation for Ukraine and to move the war onto Russian territory, he said. Also, after the "victory on the eastern front", Ukraine would take over the America's role in ensuring European security with its own, reinforced army, he said.

"We Hungarians could wake up one day to having Eastern, Slavic troops on our soil again. We don't want that," Orban said.

Pressure from Brussels was growing on Hungary and its government, Orban said. "We Hungarians also have to decide whether we want to go to war against Russia."

"Our political opponents think that we should: they say the moral of 1956 was that we should fight for Ukraine; indeed in Ukraine."

"For us, 1956 has shown that we should only ever fight for Hungary and Hungarian freedom." The best way to do that now "is to stay out of others' wars and not allow Hungary to become the marching ground", and to preserve the country's peace, freedom and security, Orban said.

"Let's not put our heads in the sand! Let's face the reality! Europe's entire economy will be broken by this war, and millions of families will be ruined if we allow this to continue. Let's not allow this, my friends!"

"Glory to the Hungarian heroes of fifty-six, God above us, Hungary before all else, go Hungary, go Hungarians," Orban concluded.

Orban: 'We shall not allow Hungary to be turned into a vassal of Brussels'

"We shall not allow Hungary to be turned into a puppet state, a vassal of Brussels," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a commemoration of the 68th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight.

Speaking at the celebration at Budapest's Millenaris Park, Orban said the 1956 revolution had created unity and a common will but had lacked the strength necessary to take sovereign action.

"Today, the right-wing government has the backing of strong national unity, a common will and strength," he said. "Today, there's an opportunity to take sovereign action, and I promise you that we shall use it."

"To be Hungarian means to fight; this is the message and the demand of the heroes of fifty-six."

"We Hungarians can and will do it. We will do it again," Orban said.
 

Orban: Hungary not afraid of 'imperialist blackmail'

Hungarians have proven "a hundred times" that they will not give in "if the current empire blackmails them", Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a commemoration speech on Wednesday, marking the 68th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight.

"We know they want to force us into war," Orban said in Budapest's Millenaris Park. "We know they want to dump migrants on us. We know they want to hand our children over to gender activists."

Referring to the opposition Tisza Party and its leader, Peter Magyar, Orban said Hungarians knew that "they have picked the puppet government and party they want to install, and they have their man for the job ... the ideal candidate to head a puppet government".

Orban: Empires will do everything to guarantee there's a Hungarian who invites them in

"Hungarians are a freedom-loving and freedom-fighting people", Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a speech of commemoration in Budapest on Wednesday, marking the 68th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight.

Orban declared that no occupier had succeeded in taming Hungarians.

He said that empires preferred to be invited in and "will do everything to guarantee there's a Hungarian who calls them in".

But Hungarians, he added, did not "tolerate humiliation".

"All puppet governments and empires should understand and never forget that we waged the brightest freedom fight of world revolutions. We taught them forever: never hurt Hungarians," he said.

The prime minister thanked special guests at the event who helped to protect the country during the recent floods.

Opposition parties' statements on 1956

Hungarian opposition parties have made statements in connection with the commemoration of the anti-Soviet uprising 68 years ago.

Green party LMP said in a statement on Wednesday that October 23 sent the clear message that when a people stood up for its own freedom, "even if their struggle fails, their sacrifice will not and cannot be in vain". "Our heroes gave their lives so the next generations could weigh the true sense of freedom, so their children and grandchildren would not live in servitude."

The Dialogue-Greens party said in a post on Facebook that the "regime" of Viktor Orban had "spat in the face of" the 1956 heroes, adding that "we must create a new community based on values".

"We're once again living under oppression: a narrow elite has stolen Hungary and closed its doors to the West while opening its doors to the East once more."

Jobbik Hungary Movement deputy leader Koloman Brenner said: We hold the [1956] flag high and proclaim the revolution's central motto, "Russians, go home!"

Speaking at a commemoration held at the statue of Peter Mansfeld, who was executed at a tender age in Budapest, the Jobbik politician said those who flooded the streets in 1956 were "Hungarian patriots who wanted to live in freedom in their own country".

Jobbik, he added, objected to any attempt to falsify history, "whether by a Russian textbook in which the heroes of fifty-six are described as fascist mobs, or by Fidesz career patriots".

Socialist Party leader Imre Komjathi marked the national holiday on Tuesday evening in Kaposvar, in southern Hungary.

Speaking at a commemoration at the statue of martyred prime minister Imre Nagy, a native of Kaposvar, Komjathi said the holiday was a celebration of freedom and heroism.

The heroes of 1956 "burned with a yearning for freedom and love of the homeland," he said, adding that statements "belittling the memory of our fallen compatriots are unacceptable".

"People who use sovereignty as a rhetorical tool against an imaginary enemy, but who would offer the keys of the country to an aggressor in real trouble have no place in Hungarian politics," he said.

At the Democratic Coalition's commemoration in Budapest, party leader Ferenc Gyurcsany said that Hungary was living "in an upside-down world where traitors are making to be celebrating the holiday of freedom and national independence on behalf of the community".

The revolution had aimed to rid Hungary of Russian-Soviet rule, he said. "That's what it was about, and then it's about how everyone who watches Ukraine's fight against Russian rule in disgust is a traitor."

"There's a special place in hell for those who maintain neutrality in times of moral crises," he said. "The Hungarian government is even worse, because they are simply taking the murderers' side … and betraying the cause of fifty-six, that of Hungarian freedom and independence…" he said.

The party's board members laid a wreath at the memorial at the Square of the Heroes of 1956.

Peter Magyar, the head of the opposition Tisza Party, and the party's Budapest representatives laid wreaths at the New Public Cemetery in the capital.

The Tisza Party laid flowers at plots 301, 300 and 298 at the graves of martyred prime minister Imre Nagy and other 1956 heroes. "Glory and respect to the heroes without whom Hungary would not be free in its current form," the statement said.

Karacsony: Fifty-sixers 'knew only a brave nation can be free'

Fifty-sixers "knew precisely that only a brave nation can be free", Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, said on Wednesday in a video message uploaded to YouTube to mark the occasion of the October 23 national holiday.

"They also knew that the courage of the nation was possible only by belonging together," Karacsony said of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.

He noted that he was spending a part of the national holiday in Strasbourg at a summit of European mayors, but he felt it was important for him to declare, quoting Hungarian author Gyorgy Faludy, that 1956 was not a memory, nor the past, nor history, but "a piece of my heart..."

"Let's not allow this heart, our heart, to be torn out..." he said.

The mayor added that a power "that only thinks of itself and puts its interest before values, and mixes up the aggressor with the victim ... is capable of projecting onto the present day and declare that Hungarians should lie down before the aggressor and give up everything -- freedom, independence, and the homeland."

"What's totally unforgivable is a nihilistic policy that puts all values in parentheses and subordinates everything to its own power interests..." he said.

"I and many others trust that this country, including ... Budapest, will not lie down, kill ourselves, or surrender..." he added.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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