The question of our survival is not what kind of border stones will be hurled in our way, but whether we are planning a Hungarian future for our children as well, Minister of State for Nation Policy Árpád János Potápi said at the commemoration held at Kossuth tér in Budapest on the occasion of the Day of National Cohesion.
Mr Potápi highlighted that also today the future of the nation is not in the hands of great powers, forces independent of us, but rather in the hands of Hungarian mothers and fathers. When we commemorate this anniversary, in actual fact, we thank them: We thank the parents and grandparents who – despite all circumstances – decided to raise their children and grandchildren as Hungarians.
“Those who handed down to us not only the treasures of our mother tongue, but also the awareness that we belong somewhere: To the great family of the Hungarian people. On the Day of National Cohesion, we celebrate this steadfast dedication, this unparalleled unity,” the Minister of State for Nation Policy said.
He highlighted that Trianon was unable to conquer us because since then generations have grown up on both sides of the border as Hungarians, and they themselves have taught their children to speak Hungarian.
He added that today we can commemorate together in the capital of a country which is the common Hungarian capital of all Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin and in scattered communities around the world, from Kolon (Kolínany, Slovakia) to Újvidék (Novi Said, Serbia), from Vancouver to Melbourne.
We Hungarians are planning our future together again, Mr Potápi said.
The Minister of State said they are continuously working on the development of Hungarian educational institutions beyond the borders, and are building new creches, nursery schools and boarding schools. They are fighting to ensure that every Hungarian child has the right to attend Hungarian-language education in their native land, and speak up at every forum for Hungarian schools in Transcarpathia as well.
Day in, day out they are making every effort to create a world on both sides of the border in which it is good to be Hungarian, and in which children, too, find advancement as Hungarians: Where they can obtain marketable qualifications in their mother tongue, attend competitive higher education and become entrepreneurs if they so choose. They help their own families as well as every other Hungarian family with making the future that they dream of come true, he laid down.
Mr Potápi pointed out that the unity and cohesion of the nation can only be a tight bond if it turns into a network of living human relationships. This is why they promote the idea, as part of the Borderless Programme, that young people in the largest possible numbers reach out to one another, and make acquaintances and forge friendships during school excursions. The Minister of State observed that some four hundred thousand students from within and beyond Hungary have already taken part in the programme, and this year they are helping Hungarian secondary school students to travel to Hungarian regions beyond the borders, while they also create opportunities for Hungarian students from beyond the borders to visit not only Hungary, but also other Hungarian territories beyond the borders.
“At last, Hungary will be the common home of every Hungarian again,” he said, highlighting that today everyone – whether they came from Ebes, Kisújszállás, Csíkfalva (Vargata, Romania), Tardoskedd (Tvrdosovce, Slovakia), Bácsfeketehegy (Feketic, Serbia) or Aknaszlatina (Solotvyno, Ukraine), for that matter – has come home. This is what this event is about, this is what the memorial site planned to be erected in Kossuth tér to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon – which will feature the name of every Hungarian settlement – will symbolise.
The Minister of State asked whether there can be a more solid answer to Trianon than that this anniversary finds us together. Is it possible to give a better response to separation and division than the response that today, in the main square of our nation, almost five thousand children are singing together, professing their unity? I do not believe so, he said, and wished that they may experience this bond not only today, on this uplifting occasion, but also in everyday life, over and over again.
After the ceremonial address of the Minister of State, more than five thousand children from the Carpathian Basin sang the song entitled Holding Hands and the National Anthem together.