We must make the 21st century a century of Hungarian prosperity and national unity, said Prime Minister Gergely Gulyás on the occasion of the handover of the renovated part of the building of the Hungarian Cultural and Welfare Association in Marsden on Sunday in Australia.
The minister reminded us that it has not even been three and a half decades since we can live freely in the motherland, that the Hungarian state can once again think of the nation as a nation, that after the consequences of an extremely difficult century, after the establishment of Hungarianness beyond the border and in the diaspora, it is no longer necessary as a result of historical tragedies we should consider that Hungarians live scattered around the world, but we can also see this as a resource.
He added: there are many people who, even far from Hungary, have preserved their sense of Hungarianness and cherish their mother tongue. Although they had to find a new homeland, they still think of themselves as Hungarians.
Gergely Gulyás explained that if it is true that those who are the furthest away from their homeland have the hardest time protecting, preserving and passing on their mother tongue, nurturing their Hungarianness, then no one can take the gold medal away from Hungarians in Australia.
He added: a new life began for the Hungarians who arrived here in the last century, Australia became a refuge, a new home, in which everyone could prosper according to their talents. A home where not only families clinging to Hungarian words, but also communities capable of maintaining Hungarian life could preserve their own sense of identity.
The minister recalled that after the system change, free Hungary was able to contact well-functioning, self-organizing, mutually committed communities in order to strengthen the threads that history had broken and put to the test.
He reminded me of József Antall, who died 30 years ago, and who, with one sentence, precisely defined the guiding thread of Hungarian national politics after the regime change.
The former prime minister said in June 1990 that he considered himself the prime minister of 15 million Hungarians in spirit and feeling. When he said this, he encountered countless misunderstandings in Hungary as well as in the surrounding countries and the world
- recalled the politician.
Gergely Gulyás thanked the leaders of the diaspora and Hungarian communities across the border, and the families, for passing on the knowledge of the Hungarian mother tongue. He pointed out that the fact that we are a world nation is also proven by the fact that on the most distant continent, Australia, which has an area 85 times larger than Hungary and has a population two and a half times larger than the mother country, 70,000 citizens declared themselves Hungarian according to the last census.
"This also proves that the Hungarians in Australia are a serious national body"
he pointed out.
He said: the current Hungarian government must keep in mind two important aspects, from which important obligations follow. One is that Hungary is the home for all Hungarians. A home you can count on at all times. If you get into trouble in the world as a Hungarian or because of being Hungarian, you can always return home.
The national policy of the last short decade and a half has mentioned as a serious result that those with Hungarian ancestry can acquire citizenship.
He also called it an important task that the mother country must also contribute to the preservation of the nation as the most important community that unites communities, and emphasized: that is why the Hungarian government also contributes to the construction of religious life, cultural life, churches or Hungarian houses.
"All this is the promise of Hungary's future, which is why it is important that the service of the churches preaching the word in Hungarian continues, which is why the Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Program is important, why the activities of the Rákóczi Association are important, and why Scouting is also crucial. The XX. century was a time of losses and dispersion for Hungarians, we must make the 21st century a century of Hungarian growth and national unity"
Gergely Gulyás said.
At the event, President Katalin Novák presented the Hungarian Silver Cross of Merit award to cameraman Zoltán Vladucz.
MTI
Featured image: Gergely Gulyás' Facebook page
