Orban: Issue of Successor States to Austria-Hungary Should be Left to Historians

Budapest, July 28 (TASR-correspondent) - Until a consensus between Hungary and Slovakia on the issue of successor states is reached, it's prudent to leave the issue to historians, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared in his interview for Kossuth Radio on Friday. TASR learnt the news from its special correspondent in Budapest. With respect to Slovakia, Orban pointed out that Slovakia will hold early parliamentary election in September. He added that if the issue of successor states becomes a bone of contention between the two countries, it will be necessary to leave the discourse to historians. "It's a mistake to allow this issue to come to the forefront of the Slovak-Hungarian ties," he said. In the period of 1000-1918, Slovakia used to be part of the Kingdom of Hungary [unlike Hungarians, Slovaks in their language distinguish the historic Kingdom of Hungary ('Uhorsko' in Slovak) before 1918 from the current Republic of Hungary (Madarsko) existing since 1918. Hungarians use the name "Magyarorszag" for both -ed.note]. The Hungarian Kingdom was also part of Austria-Hungary in the period 1867-1918. According to Orban, the Slovak approach to this historical issue differs significantly from the Hungarian one, as Hungarians perceive their history as a single 1,100-year period. "We perceive this as a single story," he added. Orban caused a furore in Slovakia with his last week's statement in Romania, when he referred to Slovakia as a "torn-away area". In response, the Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry summoned Hungarian Ambassador Csaba Balogh. "Czechoslovakia (and later Slovakia) and Hungary are all equal successor states to erstwhile Austria-Hungary. Hence, nothing could have been torn away from today's Hungary," claimed the ministry. Orban subsequently reacted to Slovak and Romanian protests by saying that he sees great opportunities for cooperation with both Bucharest and Bratislava. "In the next period, we could get a lot of beautiful things done together," he told the radio. mf/mcs