Two former heads of state, János Áder of Hungary and Tomislav Nikolic of Serbia, received the István Pásztor Award, which was awarded for the first time, for their historic actions for Hungarian-Serbian reconciliation.

Apology and forgiveness are not a sign of weakness, but of strength, and Serbs and Hungarians need their strength and each other very much, emphasized former President János Áder on Wednesday in Szabadka, after accepting the István Pásztor Award.

Remembering 2013, when Tomislav Nikolic, together with the then Serbian president, bowed his head in Čúrog in front of the innocent Serbian and Hungarian victims of the Second World War,

János Áder pointed out: "we owed a long time to the survivors and their losses, to the dead and to those who remember", they owed to the innocents who were massacred in reference to their nations, they owed the unconfessed crimes, the unspoken truths, "the truth of the Serbs and with the truth of the Hungarians".

And the liberating words were simple: it hurt, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I forgive you, thank you - he detailed.

János Áder reminded that in the summer of 2013 in Csúrog together with the then Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic, he bowed his head to the innocent Serbian and Hungarian victims of the Second World War.

"We followed the generations carrying the trauma of what happened. We have called sin by its name, but we have forever erased the concept of collective guilt from our dictionaries. We have left the vicious circle of stigmatization, slander, anger, retaliation, and desire for revenge. We surpassed our old selves," he emphasized.

Quoting István Pásztor, he said: freedom is the ability to choose between good and bad. Continuing the thought, he said: "we are free to do good instead of bad, to heal wounds instead of war, to talk to each other instead of shouting, we are free to choose between peace and non-peace, between commemoration and vandalism, between shaking fists and between the handshake".

As he said, they already knew 11 years ago, in Čúrog, that the wheel of time cannot be turned back, the future can be influenced by what they leave behind.

"We cannot undo the bad, but we can choose the better part by remembering and forgiving." He added:

"Eleven years ago, we ended the history of our common failures and chose mutual respect, which proved to be a new and strong foundation for everything that we Serbians and Hungarians have embarked on together since then".

Tomislav Nikolic, the former president of the Republic of Serbia, when accepting the award, emphasized that together with János Áder, they led the Serbs and the Hungarians to the historic reconciliation, and therefore they were both criticized, but whoever cannot tolerate criticism for the sake of a higher goal is not worthy of his mandate.

He said: he will remember this day as the day when he received the greatest recognition from the Hungarian people living in Serbia.

He recalled that when he was in Budapest in February 2010, when he discussed with the then largest opposition leader, Viktor Orbán, they agreed that if they won the elections, they would build a good relationship between the Hungarians and the Serbs, between Hungary and Serbia, and that happened.

Without János Áder and Tomislav Nikolic, there would have been no Hungarian-Serbian reconciliation, which is why there is no more suitable person than them to win the István Pásztor award in the first year - stressed Bálint Pásztor, president of the Vojvodina Hungarian Association.

As he said, the two former heads of state have immeasurable merits in the fact that the historic reconciliation between the two peoples was realized, just as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán "had and still have immeasurable merits in that we were able to realize the main life goal of István Pásztor, he was able to realize it in his own life, and afterwards we were able to maintain it and we can continue to nurture it, we can carry it forward".

If we did nothing else but implement his goals and implement again and again what he has already achieved, that would be enough for the Hungarian community in Vojvodina to be able to prosper, develop and secure its future in its homeland, he said. under Bálint Pásztor.

They wanted István Pásztor's name to remain a part of everyday life, they wanted to take care of his spiritual legacy and memory, which is why they created the foundation named after him, whose goals include strengthening the cohesion of the Hungarian community in Vojvodina, maintaining and helping the community, and further building Serbian-Hungarian relations is also included - emphasized Ábel Pásztor, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pásztor István Foundation, son of the president of the Hungarian Association of Vojvodina, who died last year.

The István Pásztor Foundation was established on June 12. The purpose of the board's establishment is to pass on the political legacy of István Pásztor, paying tribute to the results of his exemplary personal dedication and public work.

According to the explanation, the late president of the VMSZ "worked with all his might for the survival and development of the Vojvodina Hungarians in their homeland, and believed in the improvement of Serbian-Hungarian relations, in achieving which he gained indelible merit", and the Hungarian-Serbian historical reconciliation - which is "almost unique in Europe in the settlement of relations between countries and nations" - led to the development of good neighborly relations between Serbia and Hungary, which developed into a strategic partnership within a decade.

With the István Pásztor Award, the foundation named after him recognizes the work of those who have contributed to this, and who continue to build and develop it for the benefit of the Hungarian community living in Serbia, the Serbian community living in Hungary and all citizens of the two countries.

According to the announcements, the foundation annually awards the prize to one person from Hungary and one from Serbia, and the presentation will take place on October 30, the anniversary of István Pásztor's death, in Subotica.

MTI

Cover photo: former President of the Republic János Áder (j3) and his wife Anita Herczegh (j2), former President of the Republic of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic (b3) and his wife Dragica Nikolic (b2), Bálint Pásztor, President of the Vojvodina Hungarian Association (VMSZ) (b ) and Ábel Pásztor, chairman of the board of directors of the István Pásztor Foundation (j) in front of the town hall of Szatka on October 30, 2024. This year, János Áder and Tomislav Nikolic received the István Pásztor Award, awarded for the first time.
Source: MTI/Edvárd Molnár