The inauguration of a Hungarian monument commemorating the Trianon Peace Treaty has led to immediate hate-mongering, as Croatia s liberal media outlets have been unable to accurately translate a two-word quote.

The attempt by Croatia s liberal media outlets to provoke tensions by using a frame taken from a video Hungary s Prime Minister shared on Facebook seems to have backfired.

PM Viktor Orban s speech delivered at the inauguration of a monument commemorating the Trianon Peace Treaty in Satoraljaujhely, northern Hungary, can be heard on the video while an insert briefly shows a memorial plaque being erected in the harbour of Rijeka, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The inscription on the plaque says: Fiume – „Tengerre magyar”, which is Rijeka – „Hungarians, To the Sea” in English. Although neighbouring Croatia has a significant ethnic Hungarian population, Croatian media outlets obviously cannot be expected to be familiar with the origin of the sentence, which is a quotation from Lajos Kossuth, governor of the Kingdom of Hungary during the 1848-49 revolution. The statesman uttered these words to encourage young Hungarians to become sailors and set out to sea.

Having mistranslated the sentence (into Hungarian Sea), presumably with the help of Google Translate, Croatia s liberal media outlets were quick to embark on a journey of hate-mongering. Outlets such as Novi List or 24 Sata began to persistently spread fake news, accusing Viktor Orban of using his commemoration address to stoke tensions between the two countries. The articles have caused such a general outcry that Croatian Transport Minister Oleg Butkovic also commented on the case. He said his government is „not responding to cheap provocation”, and warned that history will remain history.

Fake news factories do not shy away from turning nations against each other and causing a deterioration in the historically good neighbourly relations between the two countries, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto responded on social media.

V4NA has published the full transcript of Viktor Orban s commemoration speech in both Hungarian, and English.

https://v4na.com/politika/orban-viktor-magyarorszag-ismet-gy-zelemre-all-2-40105/