BUDAPEST, 15 February 2005 — After we heard what Ferenc Gyurcsany, the prime minister of Hungary, had said, it became very clear that he knows nothing about Arabs. His remarks were made at a party; he was talking about the Saudi football team and he said: ”There were many terrorists among those players” and the Hungarians fought “with death-defying braveness” against them. He fed the audience the same old dumb stereotype about Arabs. According to the premier, the Kingdom is financing different terrorist organizations and it, along with every other Middle Eastern country, is full of terrorists. This is what the public would think if they had listened to — and believed — the Hungarian leader.
These remarks are little short of obscene and as the speaker is a prime minister, he must face the inevitable consequences. He managed to offend some 300 million people in the world as well as a good number of Hungarians who understand and sympathize with Arabs. Even though there is only a small Arab population in Hungary — about 10,000, mostly of Syrian origin, have Hungarian citizenship — and not many Muslims — only a few hundred — Gyurcsany’s words have caused a huge scandal. One Hungarian TV station and a daily newspaper reported the story and through them, the story got wide circulation.
There are different reasons for keeping the story in the spotlight. The window that opened in 2000 when then-Prime Minister Viktor Orb?n visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now looks set to close. Now the leader of the opposition, Orb?n decided to start a new era in Arab-Hungarian relations and reached out to a number of Arab countries. Then in May 2004, Hungary became a member of the European Union and this changed the political situation completely. Hungary is no longer an ex-communist weakling in Central Europe but a member of a rich and powerful community. To reach out to Arabs, especially Saudi Arabia, was a good idea. There are — or were — excellent ties between two countries and two cultures. What remains is for the two nations to strengthen their ties. What is needed is trust and interest — and in the wake of the premier’s remarks, both are in serious jeopardy.
When the situation became awkward, the premier of course apologized but it is still not clear how much this “joke” hurt bilateral relations. Only the future will show how the prime minister’s words affected Saudi businessmen’s ties with Hungary or Saudi investment opportunities in Hungary. And, of course it’s not all about money: How will the Arabs — especially the Saudis — look at Hungarians? Will the Arabs want to work and cooperate with them or will they feel that most Hungarians take the prime minister’s “joke” seriously? What is almost sure is that the two national football teams will never again meet in a friendly game. The friendship between them disappeared at the party because of the premier’s remarks.
It was only the strong determination of the Saudi ambassador in Budapest that saved the situation. He sent a diplomatic protest to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. On the diplomatic front, the case is closed but it’s hard to say when a Saudi will ever applaud a Hungarian goal again.
— Istvan Horkai is a Hungarian journalist.
