Péter Szijjártó on CNN: ‘We have been a Christian country for a millennium and we don’t want to change that’

Christiane Amanpour, one of the most well-known faces of CNN, uploaded a 4-minute long video to her official Facebook page from her interview with Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She tries to find the answer to what exactly Prime Minister Viktor Orbán means when he says he’s trying to preserve a “Christian Hungary.”
Amanpour asked the foreign minister whether the government was insinuating that anyone “other than white Christians” would not be accepted in the country. Szijjártó responded, claiming that no one said this and explained Orbán’s statements:
“We have been a Christian country for a millennium and I don’t really understand why is it bad news that we don’t want to change that. ” Mr. Szijjártó said and continued:
“Why is it bad or why is it unacceptable that we would like to stick to our history, to our culture, to our heritage, to our religion?”
“We never judged other countries that have different kinds of policies. We never judged countries, who said that multiculturalism is more valuable than a homogeneous society, for example. Please, let’s leave it to the certain countries. Let’s leave it to us to make a decision, whether we think multiculturalism is more valuable than a homogeneous society. I understand we don’t agree on that, but I respect that you have a different position and I’m not going to judge you on that (…) but I expect the same.” the Hungarian foreign minister told her.
Amanpour pointed out that Hungary also “claims to have an immigration problem” and that Hungary doesn’t want these – as Prime Minister Orbán called them – “invaders” in the country; Szijjártó quickly corrected the term to “illegal migrants.”
Amanpour continued, pointing out that the country doesn’t have an actual immigration or asylum problem, as the population is “10 million or so with less than four thousand refugees or people seeking to migrate.” She added that Hungary hasn’t declared crime or terrorism a problem either.
Mr. Szijjártó replied, Hungary would have an immigration problem if the country didn’t protect its borders. He added that Hungary still complies with its obligations as part of the Schengen zone.
Amanpour called attention to the fact that the European Union thinks Hungary is in violation of other rules and, as a result, is currently proceeding with Article 7.
You can watch the 4-minute excerpt from the interview below:
What exactly does the Hungarian prime minister mean when he says he’s trying to preserve a “Christian Hungary?” I asked Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Full interview: https://cnn.it/2IE5DQy
Közzétette: Christiane Amanpour – 2018. október 3., szerda
You can find the full interview here: https://cnn.it/2IE5DQy
Source: hungarytoday.hu