“There are no two ways about it, the Islamic State must be defeated in the interests of restoring the security of Europe”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Thursday in Washington in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.
During his two-day visit to Washington D.C. Mr. Szijjártó is attending a meeting of representatives of the international coalition against the Islamic State terrorist organisation, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Prior to the conference, the Hungarian Foreign Minister explained his standpoint on the fight against the Islamic State and related problems, as well as with regard to Hungary’s contribution to the success of the fight against the terrorist organisation, to MTI.
“Europe itself is also living under the shadow of the highest ever level of terrorist threat; this is something that is now obvious to everyone”, he said, analysing the situation. “The reasons for this situation are clear: partly because the Islamic State has destabilised Europe’s southern neighbourhood to such an extent that millions of people are being forced to flee the region, and millions of people have set off for Europe because the Islamic State terrorist organisation has gained ground”, he added. “So the task is clear: if we want to restore the security of Europe then there are no two ways about it, the Islamic State terrorist organisation must be defeated”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.
The Minister pointed out that a global coalition consisting of 64 countries, the European Union and the Arab League has been established in the interests of successfully fighting the terrorist organisation and that Hungary was an important member of that coalition. “We are one of the 23 countries that are also sending troops to fight the Islamic State, in addition to which we also participate in the work of three of the global coalition’s working groups, specifically the military working group, the working group on combatting foreign terrorist fighters and the strategic communications working group”, he highlighted.
Mr. Szijjártó also told the press that there are currently 126 Hungarian soldiers serving in Northern Iraq and their number would increase to 150 by the end of the year, from which time the contingent would not only be taking part in security and defence duties but would also be involved in training the Iraqi and Kurdish armies. Furthermore, Hungary will be stepping up its involvement in the training of the Iraqi army; more Iraqi officers will be arriving in Hungary in November to receive bomb disposal training from the Hungarian Defence Force, in addition to which Hungary is supporting the Iraqi army in its fight against the Islamic State by providing arms and 110 thousand rounds of ammunition and has undertaken to provide medical treatment for twenty soldiers wounded in Iraq, he added.
“However, until we succeed in defeating the Islamic State we must concentrate on ensuring that everyone in the region who is forced to leave their homes stay in the vicinity of their homes instead of heading out for Europe. For this reason Hungary is providing one billion forints (EUR 3.15M) in funding to the European Union fund to assist Syrian refugees and the communities who take them in, in addition to which Budapest is pledging a further 1.5bn forints to build a modern hospital in Syria during the course of the country’s future reconstruction”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said.