Canadian media on the refugee crisis in Hungary

Never has Canadian media followed developments in Hungary so closely since the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the historic influx of 38,000 Hungarian refugees to Canada. And Canadian media organizations, like the CBC, Radio Canada or the National Post, are not copy/pasting Associated Press reports, but are actually immersing themselves in the tragic events unfolding in Hungary, especially as the country seals its borders and seals the fates of thousands of refugees who are effectively locked in “no man’s land,” between the newly erected border fence and Serbia. Hundreds began a hunger strike earlier today and spent the day in an open field, in 30 C temperatures, and without food or water.

On Friday, one of our regular readers and commentators, Professor Stevan Harnad of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and co-founder of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter (CHDC) gave a comprehensive French-language interview to Radio Canada, thus providing balance and a new perspective to the official government line repeated by Hungary’s Ambassador to Canada, Bálint Ódor, who also speaks French and was interviewed by the public news network as well.

This week, the National Post published a piece by Professor András Göller of Concordia University, founder of the CHDC and also a contributor to the Hungarian Free Press, about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s decision to use the refugee crisis as a way to expand his despotism and build a police state in Hungary.

Dr. Göllner writes:

“In his letter, Ambassador Ódor says that he wants to help our national editors to become better informed. He unfortunately starts off by telling them a monumental lie. He claimsthat 150,000 of the 160,000 aliens entering Hungary had asked for political asylum in his country. The fact is that hardly any of them did so. Most wanted nothing but to get out of Hungary as fast as their feet could carry them…Everyone expected that in the process of struggling with the crisis, Hungary would uphold the values that are the sacred trust of the UN and of such bodies as the European Union. The latter expectations are now totally shattered…

Hungary has erected a 175 km long, four-meter-high razor-tipped fence along its southern border with Serbia. Anyone who climbs over this fence and survives will be faced by members of the Hungarian armed forces, who have been given orders to kill if necessary to arrest trespassers. Hungary’s security forces have been given the power to enter anyone’s home in search of aliens — no warrants are necessary…

…The last time Hungary embarked on a racially motivated immigration policy, it was an ally of Nazi Germany.”

We encourage our readers to click here for the full National Post article.

Nearly 900 Hungarian police officers marched in Heroes Square in Budapest on Monday (as seen in this photo), and are being sent to the Serbian border. Photo: Viktor Orbán's Facebook page.

Nearly 900 Hungarian police officers marched in Heroes Square in Budapest on Monday (as seen in this photo), and are being sent to the Serbian border. Photo: Viktor Orbán’s Facebook page.

On Tuesday morning, CBC’s The Current also had a segment focusing on the crisis in Hungary and the Orbán government’s callousness.

Hosted by Anna Maria Tremonti, the live radio discussion included the views of Viktor Szigetvári, co-president of the centre-left Együtt (Together) opposition party, as well as those of Stefánia Szabó, Hungary’s Consul General in Toronto . The CBC’s website refers to a “new iron curtain” in Hungary. (The 23-minute radio discussion can be heard here.) Ms. Termonti emphasized that while other countries are struggling with the influx, Hungary “stands apart in how it views the refugees.”

Ms. Tremonti quotes Fidesz government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács, about how the Hungarian regime wants to preserve Europe’s “Christian culture” and that Hungary is being “overrun” by Muslims.

“These are people from a different civilization, trying to enter Europe illegally, causing lots of problems, lots of unsolved issues that have been with western Europe for the past couple of decades. We would like to avoid this happening in Hungary,” said Mr. Kovács.

The CBC spoke with a representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), who confirmed that on the first day of state of emergency legislation coming into effect, refugees are languishing in crowds at the Serbian/Hungarian border, UNHCR officials are not permitted to access them, they have no shelter whatsoever and UNHCR representatives were not allowed in all morning.

It should be added, that throughout the day, only a few dozen were allowed to submit their claims and without exception, all were summarily rejected. These refugee claimants were shocked to discover that they were all barred from the entire Schengen Zone for a full year.

The UNHCR representative on the ground in Hungary told the CBC that Hungary has an obligation to accept and aid refugees, and that it is not fulfilling this responsibility. He also noted that the border fence was “an ugly reminder of the iron curtain.”

“I don’t think that Europe needed another wall so soon,” he told the CBC.

Viktor Szigetvári was next up on The Current, who spoke live from Röszke.

Mr. Szigetvári correctly noted that while the Orbán government considers all refugees on the “Serbian side” of the fence to be in no man’s land, this is not accurate. No man’s land is Hungary, as the fence was built several metres inland, on Hungarian soil. Both sides of the fence are within Hungary. As such, the refugees who are now closed off from the border by this barrier, are in fact on Hungarian soil.

“It is in the interests of this populist right-wing prime minister and his party to cope with the challenge raised by the even further far-right party, Jobbik,” said Mr. Szigetvári, suggesting that the refugee crisis was meant to shore up support that had been bleeding away from Fidesz and heading further to the right. “Everything that Mr. Orbán did since the terror attack against Charlie Hebdo fits into this frame. He is trying to stop a populist right-wing party by competing with it on populism and on anti-migrant actions,” added the opposition politician.

The CBC also interviewed Consul General Stefánia Szabó, who provided the Canadian public broadcaster with the Orbán government’s views.

“I’d like to emphasize that we all feel for the refugees in Hungarian society. We have been deeply moved by the plight of the migrants. But as a sovereign state, the government also needs to take its public law and responsibility seriously. A sovereign state’s responsibility covers three things: territory, population and governance. The government would like to follow the rule of law. And the rule of law is, whoever enters the European Union, and this time it is through Hungary, they need to register, if they seek asylum,” said Ms. Szabó.

It should be noted that one of the criticisms of the Orbán government is that for the past two days, they have been busing and otherwise transporting thousands of refugees to Austria, without ever registering them.

“The aim of the new legislation is not to stop the refugees. It is to regulate them,” Ms. Szabó added, when asked about the controversial new state of emergency legislation. The diplomat also said that the fence is “not something that we are proud of.”

“The government did not see any other way to regulate the flow of the illegal migrants,” Ms. Szabó noted, but agreed with Mr. Szigetvári that the comparisons of the current fence to the iron curtain bring up painful memories.

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