Hungary commemorates Trianon as Orban warns against imperial entanglements

- We don't want to be pawns sent to war on an imperial chessboard again, - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday during a ceremony commemorating the Treaty of Trianon from 1920. As a result of signing the document, Hungary lost a significant part of its territory and population.

For over a decade, every year on 4th June, Hungarians observe National Unity Day to commemorate the Trianon Treaty of 1920, signed between the Entente powers and Hungary following the defeat of Austria-Hungary in World War I and its subsequent dissolution.

Under the treaty, Hungary lost two-thirds of the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, mainly to the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, as well as to Czechoslovakia and Romania. Hungary also lost 62% of its population, with 30% being ethnic Hungarians.

Orban said on Tuesday that 4th June was the "day of the assassination attempt against the nation" and that the state and nation were subjected to a "cruel, merciless, and unjust dictate".

In his speech, the Hungarian Prime Minister discussed the upcoming European Parliament elections. Hungary's election campaign has primarily been dedicated to the war in Ukraine; Fidesz presents itself as the only guarantor of non-engagement on either side.

- Today, we must do what Prime Minister Istvan Tisza (Prime Minister of Hungary from 1903-1905 and 1913-1917) failed to do: prevent Hungary's participation in another European war. We don't want to be pawns sent to war on an imperial chessboard again, - Orban stated, speaking in the town of Geszt near the border with Romania.

President Tamas Sulyok also attended the ceremonies held at the restored 18th-century Tisza Castle.