Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban didn’t use the word autonomy in respect to Ukraine and did not mean territorial autonomy, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Janos Martonyi said on Wednesday.
He was reacting to questions about Orban’s speech taking his oath of office on May 10 when he said that Hungarians living in the Carpathian basin in Central and Eastern Europe are entitled to dual citizenship, community rights, and also autonomy. It has stirred up emotions, with the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoning Hungarian Ambassador to Ukraine Mihaly Bayer to provide an explanation and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk describing the statements as unfortunate and not well timed. “The Hungarian community in Ukraine has excellent relations with the current Government in Kiev,” emphasised Martonyi.
