Hungary calls for international pressure on Syria to protect religious minorities amid mass killings

The international community must put pressure on the new Syrian regime so that it guarantees the rights and security of religious communities, including Christians, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Szijjártó said some in the international community had hoped that the new Syrian regime “would be better than its predecessor”. “We Hungarians approached this matter with caution, and unfortunately it turned out that the ones who were cautious were right,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement. “In the last few days there have been brutal military attacks against civilians, and in many cases these turned into mass killings.”

“We condemn these murders and mass killings committed by the Syrian security forces and so-called rebels in the strongest possible terms, and we expect the interim Syrian authorities to carry out a full-scale investigation into what happened, and deliver justice for the victims and their families,” the minister said. Szijjártó said it was important to draw the necessary conclusions from these developments, pointing out that the safety of minority religious communities in Syria was “not at all guaranteed”.

“That’s why the international community must put pressure on the new Syrian regime so that it guarantees the rights and security of religious communities,” he said. He said that Hungary, as a country with more than a thousand years of Christian statehood, was mainly focused on the situation of the Christian community. The foreign minister noted that the Hungarian government has supported Christians on numerous occasions over the last several years in the upkeep of their schools and monasteries as well as the pursuit of their humanitarian activities.

“Now we are sending HUF 10 million (EUR 25,000) in emergency aid to the families of the victims, and, of course, the Christian communities in Syria can count on us in the long run as well,” Szijjártó said. He said it was “unacceptable” that the international community was “simply ignoring this mass murder”, adding that he has asked the European Union’s foreign and security affairs chief to include the matter on the Foreign Affairs Council’s agenda next Monday.

“Based on her reply today, Kaja Kallas agreed with my proposal, and the developments in Syria will be on the agenda on Monday,” Szijjártó said. “We condemn the mass killings in the strongest possible terms, and we call on the new Syrian leadership to guarantee the rights and security of the religious communities living there, including Christians,” he added.

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