Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán denounced for anti-Muslim rhetoric

Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán, was denounced in Bosnia for anti-Muslim rhetoric. Statements made by Zoltán Kovács, Secretary of State for International Communication, were judged as well.

Bosnian officials and religious leaders have condemned the statements made by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Zoltán Kovács, the Secretary of State for International Communication, wrote Telex.

The two Hungarian politicians expressed that it would be a challenge to integrate Bosnia and Herzegovina into the European Union. The reason for this challenge is the large Muslim population, they said.

Aljazeera wrote that Zoltán Kovács, Secretary of State for International Communication, wrote a tweet in which he expressed that “the challenge with Bosnia is how to integrate a country with 2 million Muslims.”

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At the government briefing, Viktor Orbán talked about supporting Bosnia’s EU bid: though he also said that he supports Bosnia’s EU bid, he mentioned some migration-related viewpoints as well.

“I am doing my best to convince Europe’s great leaders that the Balkans may be further away from them than from Hungary, but how we manage the security of a state in which 2 million Muslims live is a key issue for their security too,” he said.

As Aljazeera wrote, the statement was met with severe judgement. Grand Mufti Husein Kavazovic, the head of the Islamic community, called the Hungarian prime minister’s statement “xenophobic and racist”.

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“If such ideologies become the basis on which the policies of a united Europe are based, then it takes us back to the times when the European unity was to be built on similar fascist, Nazi, violent and genocidal ideologies that led to the Holocaust and other horrific crimes,” Al Jazeera quoted him.

Sefik Dzaferovic called Orbán’s statement “shameful and rude”.

AP wrote that he said that “it is not a challenge for the EU to integrate 2 million (Bosnian) Muslims because we are an indigenous European people who have always lived here and we are Europeans.”

The anti-migrant ideology is a key aspect of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s narrative. His politics and views on this are well-known, as the theme often appears in his political communication.

Source: Telex, ALjazeera, AP