94 Issue | Worldwide Events e-Newspaper | 21-27 Oct, 2012

Day of Proclamation of the Republic Hungary - Oct 23 Revolution of 1956 Hungarian The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 (Hungarian: 1956-os

forradalom or felkelés) was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Sovietimposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956.

The revolt began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entering the radio building in an attempt to broadcast its demands was detained. When the delegation's release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired upon by the State Security Police (ÁVH) from within the building. The news spread quickly and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital.

The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell.

Thousands organized into militias, battling the State Security Police (ÁVH) and Soviet troops. Pro-Soviet communists and ÁVH members were often executed or imprisoned, as former prisoners were released and armed. Impromptu councils wrested municipal control from the ruling Hungarian Working People's Party and demanded political changes. The new government formally disbanded the ÁVH, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October, fighting had almost stopped and a sense of normality began to return.

After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months thereafter. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. These Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Central Europe.

Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but since the thaw of the 1980s it has been a subject of intense study and debate. At the inauguration of the Third Hungarian Republic in 1989, October 23 was declared a national holiday.

Prelude During World War II, Hungary was a member of the Axis Powers, thereby being allied with the fascist forces of Nazi Germany,

Fascist Italy, Romania and Bulgaria. As a part of this, in 1941, the Hungarian military participated in the occupation of Yugoslavia and the invasion of the Soviet Union, joining the Axis Powers. The Soviet army was however able to force back the Hungarian and other Axis invaders, and by 1944, Soviet armies themselves were advancing towards Hungary. Fearing invasion, the Hungarian government began armistice negotiations with the Allies, but these were ended when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the country and set up their own pro-Axis regime. Both Hungarian and German forces stationed in Hungary were subsequently defeated when the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1945.

Postwar occupation:

After World War II, the Soviet Army occupied Hungary, with the country coming under the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.

At the time, Hungary was a multiparty democracy, and elections in 1945 produced a coalition government under Prime Minister Zoltán Tildy. However, the Hungarian Communist Party, a Marxist-Leninist group who shared the Soviet government's ideological beliefs, constantly wrested small concessions in a process named "salami tactics", which sliced away the elected government's influence, despite the fact that had only received 17% of the vote.

After the elections of 1945, the portfolio of the Interior Ministry — which oversaw the Hungarian State Security Police (Államvédelmi Hatóság, later known as the ÁVH) — was forcibly transferred from the Independent Smallholders Party to a nominee of the Communist Party. The ÁVH employed methods of intimidation, false accusations, imprisonment and torture, to suppress political opposition. The brief period of multiparty democracy came to an end when the Communist Party merged with the Social Democratic Party to become the Hungarian Working People's Party, which stood its candidate list unopposed in 1949. The People's Republic of Hungary was then declared.[8] By 1949, the Soviets had concluded a mutual assistance treaty with Hungary which granted the Soviet Union rights to a continued military presence, assuring ultimate political control.

Being revolutionary socialists, the Hungarian Communist Party set about to replace the capitalist economy with a socialist one, and as a part of this undertook radical nationalization based on the Soviet model. This however produced economic stagnation, lower standards of living and a deep malaise. Writers and journalists were the first to voice open criticism of the government and its policies, publishing critical articles in 1955. By 22 October 1956, Technical University students had resurrected the banned MEFESZ student union, and staged a demonstration on 23 October which set off a chain of events leading directly to the revolution.

Political repression and economic decline:

Hungary became a communist state under the severely authoritarian leadership of Mátyás Rákosi.The Security Police (ÁVH) began a series of purges of more than 7000 dissidents, who were denounced as "Titoists" or "western agents", and forced to confess in show trials, after which they were relocated to a camp in eastern Hungary.

From 1950 to 1952, the Security Police forcibly relocated thousands of people to obtain property and housing for the Working People's Party members, and to remove the threat of the intellectual and 'bourgeois' class. Thousands were arrested, tortured, tried, and imprisoned in concentration camps,deported to the east, or were executed, including ÁVH founder László Rajk. In a single year, more than 26,000 people were forcibly relocated from Budapest. As a consequence, jobs and housing were very difficult to obtain. The deportees generally experienced terrible living conditions and were impressed as slave labor on collective farms. Flag of Hungary, with the commuMany died as a result of the poor living conditions and malnutrition.

The Rákosi government thoroughly politicized Hungary's educational sys- nist coat of arms cut out. The flag tem to supplant the educated classes with a "toiling intelligentsia". Russian with a hole became the symbol of language study and Communist political instruction were made mandatory the revolution. (Photographed at in schools and universities nationwide. Religious schools were nationalized and church leaders were replaced by those loyal to the government. the "Corvin köz") In 1949 the leader of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Cardinal József Mindszenty, was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. Under Rákosi, Hungary's government was among the most repressive in Europe.

The postwar Hungarian economy suffered from multiple challenges. Hungary agreed to pay war reparations approximating US$300 million, to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, and to support Soviet garrisons. The Hungarian National Bank in 1946 estimated the cost of reparations as "between 19 and 22 per cent of the annual national income." In 1946, the Hungarian currency experienced marked depreciation, resulting in the highest historic rates of hyperinflation known. Hungary's participation in the Soviet-sponsored COMECON(Council Of Mutual Economic Assistance), prevented it from trading with the West or receiving Marshall Plan aid.

Although national income per capita rose in the first third of the 1950s, the standard of living fell. Huge income deductions to finance industrial investment reduced disposable personal income; mismanagement created chronic shortages in basic foodstuffs resulting in rationing of bread, sugar, flour and meat. Compulsory subscriptions to state bonds further reduced personal income. The net result was that disposable real income of workers and employees in 1952 was only two-thirds of what it had been in 1938, whereas in 1949, the proportion had been 90 per cent. These policies had a cumulative negative effect, and fueled discontent as foreign debt grew and the population experienced shortages of goods.

International events:

On 5 March 1953, Joseph Stalin died, ushering in a period of moderate liberalization during which most European communist parties developed a reform wing. In Hungary, the reformist Imre Nagy replaced Mátyás Rákosi, "Stalin's Best Hungarian Disciple", as Prime Minister. However, Rákosi remained General Secretary of the Party, and was able to undermine most of Nagy's reforms. By April 1955, he had Nagy discredited and removed from office. After Khrushchev's "secret speech" of February 1956, which denounced Stalin and his protégés, Rákosi was deposed as General Secretary of the Party and replaced by Ernő Gerő on 18 July 1956.

On 14 May 1955, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, binding Hungary to the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Among the principles of this alliance were "respect for the independence and sovereignty of states" and "noninterference in their internal affairs".

In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty and ensuing declaration of neutrality established Austria as a demilitarized and neutral country. This raised Hungarian hopes of also becoming neutral and in 1955 Nagy had considered "...the possibility of Hungary adopting a neutral status on the Austrian pattern".

In June 1956, a violent uprising by Polish workers in Poznań was put down by the government, with scores of protesters killed and wounded. Responding to popular demand, in October 1956, the government appointed the recently rehabilitated reformist communist Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, with a mandate to negotiate trade concessions and troop reductions with the Soviet government. After a few tense days of negotiations, on 19 October the Soviets finally gave in to Gomułka's reformist demands.News of the concessions won by the Poles—known as Polish October—emboldened many Hungarians to hope for similar concessions for Hungary and these sentiments contributed significantly to the highly charged political climate that prevailed in Hungary in the second half of October 1956.

Within the Cold War context of the time, by 1956 a fundamental tension had appeared in U.S. policy towards Hungary and the Eastern Bloc generally. The United States both hoped to encourage East European countries to break away from the bloc through their own efforts, but also wished to avoid a U.S.-Soviet military confrontation, fearing escalation into nuclear war. For these reasons, U.S. policy makers had to consider other means of diminishing Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, short of a rollback policy.

This led to the development of containment policies such as economic and psychological warfare, covert operations, and, at a later stage, negotiation with the Soviet Union regarding the status of the East-bloc states. In the summer of 1956, relations between Hungary and the U.S. began to improve. At that time, the U.S. responded very favorably to Hungary's overtures about a possible expansion of bilateral trade relations. Hungary's desire for better relations was partly attributable to the country's catastrophic economic situation. Before any results could be achieved, however, the pace of negotiations was slowed by the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which feared that better relations with the West might weaken Communist rule in Hungary.

Social unrest builds:

Rákosi's resignation in July 1956 emboldened students, writers and journalists to be more active and critical in politics. Students and journalists started a series of intellectual forums examining the problems facing Hungary. These forums, called Petőfi circles, became very popular and attracted thousands of participants. On 6 October 1956, László Rajk, who had been executed by the Rákosi government, was reburied in a moving ceremony which strengthened the party opposition.

On 16 October 1956, university students in Szeged snubbed the official communist student union, the DISZ, by re-establishing the MEFESZ (Union of Hungarian University and Academy Students), a democratic student organization, previously banned under the Rákosi dictatorship. Within days, the student bodies of Pécs, Miskolc, and Sopron followed suit. On 22 October, students of the Technical University compiled a list of sixteen points containing several national policy demands. After the students heard that the Hungarian Writers’ Union planned on the following day to express solidarity with pro-reform movements in Poland by laying a wreath at the statue of Polish-born General Bem, a hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 (1848–49), the students decided to organize a parallel demonstration of sympathy.

Revolution First shots:

A recreation of the statue of Joseph Stalin, toppled during the revolution (currently on display at Szoborpark near Budapest)

On the afternoon of 23 October 1956, approximately 20,000 protesters convened next to the statue of Józef Bem - a national hero of Poland and Hungary. Péter Veres, President of the Writers’ Union, read a manifesto to the crowd, the students read their proclamation, and the crowd then chanted the censored patriotic poem the "National Song", which refrains: "This we swear, this we swear, that we will no longer be slaves." Someone in the crowd cut out the communist coat of arms from the Hungarian flag, leaving a distinctive hole and others quickly followed suit. Afterwards, most of the crowd crossed the Danube to join demonstrators outside the Parliament Building. By 6 p.m., the multitude had swollen to more than 200,000 people; the demonstration was spirited, but peaceful.

At 8 p.m., First Secretary Ernő Gerő broadcast a speech condemning the writers' and students' demands. Angered by Gerő's hard-line rejection, some demonstrators decided to carry out one of their demands - the removal of Stalin's 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze statue that was erected in 1951 on the site of a church, which was demolished to make room for the Stalin monument.

By 9:30 p.m. the statue was toppled and jubilant crowds celebrated by placing Hungarian flags in Stalin's boots, which was all that was left of the statue.

At about the same time, a large crowd gathered at the Radio Budapest building, which was heavily guarded by the ÁVH. The flash point was reached as a delegation attempting to broadcast their demands was detained and the crowd grew increasingly unruly as rumors spread that the protesters had been shot. Tear gas was thrown from the upper windows and the ÁVH opened fire on the crowd, killing many. The ÁVH tried to re-supply itself by hiding arms inside an ambulance, but the crowd detected the ruse and intercepted it. Hungarian soldiers sent to relieve the ÁVH hesitated and then, tearing the red stars from their caps, sided with the crowd. Provoked by the ÁVH attack, protesters reacted violently. Police cars were set ablaze, guns were seized from military depots and distributed to the masses and symbols of the communist regime were vandalized.

Fighting spreads, government falls:

During the night of 23 October, Hungarian Working People's Party Secretary Ernő Gerő requested Soviet military intervention "to suppress a demonstration that was reaching an ever greater and unprecedented scale." The Soviet leadership had formulated contingency plans for intervention in Hungary several months before. By 2 a.m. on 24 October, under orders of the Soviet defence minister, Soviet tanks entered Budapest.

By noon on 24 October, Soviet tanks were stationed outside the Parliament building and Soviet soldiers guarded key bridges and crossroads. Armed revolutionaries quickly set up barricades to defend Budapest, and were reported to have already captured some Soviet tanks by mid-morning. That day, Imre Nagy replaced András Hegedüs as Prime Minister. On the radio, Nagy called for an end to violence and promised to initiate political reforms which had been shelved three years earlier. The population continued to arm itself as sporadic violence erupted. Armed protesters seized the radio building. At the offices of the Communist newspaper Szabad Nép unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by ÁVH guards who were then driven out as armed demonstrators arrived. At this point, the revolutionaries' wrath focused on the ÁVH; Soviet military units were not yet fully engaged, and there were many reports of some Soviet troops showing open sympathy for the demonstrators.

On 25 October, a mass of protesters gathered in front of the Parliament Building. ÁVH units began shooting into the crowd from the rooftops of neighboring buildings. Some Soviet soldiers returned fire on the ÁVH, mistakenly believing that they were the targets of the shooting. Supplied by arms taken from the ÁVH or given by Hungarian soldiers who joined the uprising, some in the crowd started shooting back.

The attacks at the Parliament forced the collapse of the government. Communist First Secretary Ernő Gerő and former Prime Minister András Hegedüs fled to the Soviet Union; Imre Nagy became Prime Minister and János Kádár First Secretary of the Communist Party. Revolutionaries began an aggressive offensive against Soviet troops and the remnants of the ÁVH. As the Hungarian resistance fought Soviet tanks using Molotov cocktails in the narrow streets of Budapest, revolutionary councils arose nationwide, assumed local governmental authority, and called for general strikes. Public Communist symbols such as red stars and Soviet war memorials were removed, and Communist books were burned. Spontaneous revolutionary militias arose, such as the 400-man group loosely led by József Dudás, which attacked or murdered Soviet sym- Vice-President Richard Nixon addresses Hungarian pathizers and ÁVH members. Soviet units fought refugees, including author S.I. Horvath. primarily in Budapest; elsewhere the countryside was largely quiet. One armored division stationed in Budapest, commanded by Pál Maléter, instead opted to join the insurgents. Soviet commanders often negotiated local ceasefires with the revolutionaries. In some regions, Soviet forces managed to quell revolutionary activity. In Budapest, the Soviets were eventually fought to a stand-still and hostilities began to wane. Hungarian general Béla Király, freed from a life sentence for political offenses and acting with the support of the Nagy government, sought to restore order by unifying elements of the police, army and insurgent groups into a National Guard. A ceasefire was arranged on 28 October, and by 30 October most Soviet troops had withdrawn from Budapest to garrisons in the Hungarian countryside.

Interlude:

Fighting had virtually ceased between 28 October and 4 November, as many Hungarians believed that Soviet military units were indeed withdrawing from Hungary.

The New Hungarian National Government:

The rapid spread of the uprising in the streets of Budapest and the abrupt fall of the Gerő-Hegedüs government left the new national leadership surprised, and at first disorganized. Nagy, a loyal Party reformer described as possessing "only modest political skills", initially appealed to the public for calm and a return to the old order. Yet Nagy, the only remaining Hungarian leader with credibility in both the eyes of the public and the Soviets, "at long last concluded that a popular uprising rather than a counter-revolution was taking place". Calling the ongoing insurgency "a broad democratic mass movement" in a radio address on 27 October, Nagy formed a government which included some non-communist ministers. This new National Government abolished both the ÁVH and the one-party system. Because it held office only ten days, the National Government had little chance to clarify its policies in detail. However, newspaper editorials at the time stressed that Hungary should be a neutral, multiparty social democracy. Many political prisoners were released, most notably Cardinal József Mindszenty. Political parties which were previously banned, such as the Independent Smallholders and the National Peasants' Party, reappeared to join the coalition.

Local revolutionary councils formed throughout Hungary, generally without involvement from the preoccupied National Government in Budapest, and assumed various responsibilities of local government from the defunct communist party. By 30 October, these councils had been officially sanctioned by the Hungarian Working People's Party, and the Nagy government asked for their support as "autonomous, democratic local organs formed during the Revolution". Likewise, workers' councils were established at industrial plants and mines, and many unpopular regulations such as production norms were eliminated. The workers' councils strove to manage the enterprise whilst protecting workers' interests, thus establishing a socialist economy free of rigid party control. Local control by the councils was not always bloodless; in Debrecen, Győr, Sopron, Mosonmagyaróvár and other cities, crowds of demonstrators were fired upon by the ÁVH, with many lives lost. The ÁVH were disarmed, often by force, in many cases assisted by the local police.

Soviet perspective:

On 24 October, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (the Politburo) discussed the political upheavals in Poland and Hungary. A hard-line faction led by Molotov was pushing for intervention, but Khrushchev and Marshal Zhukov were initially opposed. A delegation in Budapest reported that the situation was not as dire as had been portrayed. Khrushchev stated that he believed that Party Secretary Ernő Gerő's request for intervention on 23 October indicated that the Hungarian Party still held the confidence of the Hungarian public. In addition, he saw the protests not as an ideological struggle, but as popular discontent over unresolved basic economic and social issues.

After some debate, the Presidium on 30 October decided not to remove the new Hungarian government. Even Marshal Georgy Zhukov said: "We should withdraw troops from Budapest, and if necessary withdraw from Hungary as a whole. This is a lesson for us in the military-political sphere." They adopted a Declaration of the Government of the USSR on the Principles of Development and Further Strengthening of Friendship and Cooperation between the Soviet Union and other Socialist States, which was issued the next day. This document proclaimed: "The Soviet Government is prepared to enter into the appropriate negotiations with the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and other members of the Warsaw Treaty on the question of the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of Hungary." Thus for a brief moment it looked like there could be a peaceful solution.

On 30 October, armed protestors attacked the ÁVH detachment guarding the Budapest Hungarian Working People's Party headquarters on Köztársaság tér (Republic Square), incited by rumors of prisoners held there, and the earlier shootings of demonstrators by the ÁVH in the city of Mosonmagyaróvár. Over 20 ÁVH officers were killed, some of them lynched by the mob. Hungarian army tanks sent to rescue the party headquarters mistakenly bombarded the building. The head of the Budapest party committee, Imre Mező, was wounded and later died.

Scenes from Republic Square were shown on Soviet newsreels a few hours later.

Revolutionary leaders in Hungary condemned the incident and appealed for calm, and the mob violence soon died down, but images of the victims were nevertheless used as propaganda by various Communist organs.

On 31 October the Soviet leaders decided to reverse their decision from the previous day. There is disagreement among historians whether Hungary's declaration to exit the Warsaw Pact caused the second Soviet intervention. Minutes of the 31 October meeting of the Presidium record that the decision to intervene militarily was taken one day before Hungary declared its neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. However, some Russian historians who are not advocates of the Communist era maintain that the Hungarian declaration of neutrality caused the Kremlin to intervene a second time.

Two days earlier, on 30 October, when Soviet Politburo representatives Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov were in Budapest, Nagy had hinted that neutrality was a long-term objective for Hungary, and that he was hoping to discuss this matter with the leaders in the Kremlin. This information was passed on to Moscow

by Mikoyan and Suslov. At that time, Khrushchev was in Stalin's dacha, considering his options regarding Hungary. One of his speechwriters later said that the declaration of neutrality was an important factor in his subsequent decision to support intervention. In addition, some Hungarian leaders of the revolution as well as students had called for their country's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact much Time's "Man of the Year" for earlier, and this may have influenced Soviet decision making.

Several other key events alarmed the Presidium and cemented the intervention- 1956 was the Hungarian Freedom Fighter. ists' position: • Simultaneous movements towards multiparty parliamentary democracy, and a democratic national council of workers, which could "lead towards a capitalist state." Both movements challenged the pre-eminence of the Soviet Communist Party in Eastern Europe and perhaps Soviet hegemony itself. For the majority of the Presidium, the workers' direct control over their councils without Communist Party leadership was incompatible with their idea of socialism. At the time, these councils were, in the words of Hannah Arendt, "the only free and acting soviets (councils) in existence anywhere in the world".

The Presidium was concerned lest the West might perceive Soviet weakness if it did not deal firmly with Hungary.

• On 1956-10-29, Israeli, British and French forces invaded Egypt. Khrushchev reportedly remarked "We should reexamine our assessment and should not withdraw our troops from Hungary and Budapest. We should take the initiative in restoring order in Hungary. If we depart from Hungary, it will give a great boost to the Americans, English, and French—the imperialists. They will perceive it as weakness on our part and will go onto the offensive... To Egypt they will then add Hungary. We have no other choice."

Khrushchev stated that many in the Communist Party would not understand a failure to respond with force in • Hungary. De-Stalinizationhad alienated the more conservative elements of the Party, who were alarmed at threats to Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. On 17 June 1953, workers in East Berlin had staged an uprising, demanding the resignation of the government of the German Democratic Republic. This was quickly and violently put down with the help of the Soviet military, with 84 killed and wounded and 700 arrested. In June 1956, in Poznań, Poland, an anti-government workers' revolt had been suppressed by the Polish security forces with between 57 and 78 deaths and led to the installation of a less Soviet-controlled government. Additionally, by late October, unrest was noticed in some regional areas of the Soviet Union: while this unrest was minor, it was intolerable.

• Hungarian neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact represented a breach in the Soviet defensive buffer zone of satellite nations. Soviet fear of invasion from the West made a defensive buffer of allied states in Eastern Europe an essential security objective.

The Presidium decided to break the de facto ceasefire and crush the Hungarian revolution. The plan was to declare a "Provisional Revolutionary Government" under János Kádár, who would appeal for Soviet assistance to restore order. According to witnesses, Kádár was in Moscow in early November, and he was in contact with the Soviet embassy while still a member of the Nagy government.Delegations were sent to other Communist governments in Eastern Europe and China, seeking to avoid a regional conflict, and propaganda messages prepared for broadcast when the second Soviet intervention had begun. To disguise these intentions, Soviet diplomats were to engage the Nagy government in talks discussing the withdrawal of Soviet forces.

According to some sources, the Chinese leader Mao Zedong played an important role in Khrushchev's decision to suppress the Hungarian uprising. Chinese Communist Party Deputy Chairman Liu Shaoqi pressured Khrushchev to send in troops to put down the revolt by force. Although the relations between China and the Soviet Union had deteriorated during the recent years, Mao's words still carried great weight in the Kremlin, and they were frequently in contact during the crisis. Initially Mao opposed a second intervention and this information was passed on to Khrushchev on 30 October, before the Presidium met and decided against intervention. Mao then changed his mind in favor of intervention, but according to William Taubman it remains unclear when and how Khrushchev learned of this and thus if it influenced his decision on 31 October.

On 1 November to 3 November, Khrushchev left Moscow to meet with his East-European allies and inform them of the decision to intervene. At the first such meeting, he met with Władysław Gomułka in Brest. Then he had talks with the Romanian, Czechoslovak, and Bulgarian leaders in Bucharest. Finally Khrushchev flew with Malenkov to Yugoslavia, where they met with Josip Broz Tito, who was vacationing on his island Brioni in the Adriatic. The Yugoslavs also persuaded Khrushchev to choose János Kádár instead of Ferenc Münnich as the new leader of Hungary.

International reaction:

Although the United States Secretary of State recommended on 24 October that the United Nations Security Council convene to discuss the situation in Hungary, little immediate action was taken to introduce a resolution, in part because other world events unfolded the day after the peaceful 'interlude' started, when allied collusion started the Suez Crisis. The problem was not that Suez distracted U.S. attention from Hungary, but that it made the condemnation of Soviet actions very difficult. As Vice President Richard Nixon later explained: "We couldn't on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene against [Gamel Abdel] Nasser".

Responding to the plea by Nagy at the time of the second massive Soviet intervention on 4 November, the Security Council resolution critical of Soviet actions was vetoed by the Soviet Union; instead resolution 120 was adopted to pass the matter onto the General Assembly. The General Assembly, by a vote of 50 in favor, 8 against and 15 abstentions, called on the Soviet Union to end its Hungarian intervention, but the newly constituted Kádár government rejected UN observers.

The U.S. President, Dwight Eisenhower, was aware of a detailed study of Hungarian resistance which recommended against U.S. military intervention, and of earlier policy discussions within the National Security Council which focused upon encouraging discontent in Soviet satellite nations only by economic policies and political rhetoric. In a 1998 interview, Hungarian Ambassador Géza Jeszenszky was critical of Western inaction in 1956, citing the influence of the United Nations at that time and giving the example of UN intervention in Korea from 1950 to 1953.

During the uprising, the Radio Free Europe (RFE) Hungarian-language programs broadcast news of the political and military situation, as well as appealing to Hungarians to fight the Soviet forces, including tactical advice on resistance methods. After the Soviet suppression of the revolution, RFE was criticized for having misled the Hungarian people that NATO or United Nations would intervene if the citizens continued to resist.

Soviet intervention of 4 November:

On 1 November, Imre Nagy received reports that Soviet forces had entered Hungary from the east and were moving towards Budapest.Nagy sought and received assurances from Soviet ambassador Yuri Andropov that the Soviet Union would not invade, although Andropov knew otherwise. The Cabinet, with János Kádár in agreement, declared Hungary's neutrality, withdrew from the Warsaw Pact, and requested assistance from the diplomatic corps in Budapest and the UN Secretary-General to defend Hungary's neutrality. Ambassador Andropov was asked to inform his government that Hungary would begin negotiations on the removal of Soviet forces immediately.

On 3 November, a Hungarian delegation led by the Minister of Defense Pál Maléter were invited to attend negotiations on Soviet withdrawal at the Soviet Military Command at Tököl, near Budapest. At around midnight that evening, General Ivan Serov, Chief of the Soviet Security Police (KGB) ordered the arrest of the Hungarian delegation, and the next day, the Soviet army again attacked Budapest.

This second Soviet intervention, codenamed "Operation Whirlwind", was launched by Marshal Ivan Konev. The five Soviet divisions stationed in Hungary before 23 October were augmented to a total strength of 17 divisions. The 8th Mechanized Army under command of Lieutenant General Hamazasp Babadzhanian and the 38th Army under command of Lieutenant General Hadzhi-Umar Mamsurov from the nearby Carpathian Military District were deployed to Hungary for the operation. Some rankand-file Soviet soldiers reportedly believed they were being sent to Berlin to fight German fascists. By 9:30 p.m. on 3 November, the Soviet Army had completely encircled Budapest.

At 3:00 a.m. on 4 November, Soviet tanks penetrated Budapest along the Pest side of the Danube in two thrusts: one up the Soroksári road from the south and the other down the Váci road from the north. Thus before a single shot was fired, the Soviets had effectively split the city in half, controlled all bridgeheads, and were shielded to the rear by the wide Danube river. Armored units crossed into Buda and at 4:25 a.m. fired the first shots at the army barracks on Budaõrsi road. Soon after, Soviet artillery and tank fire was heard in all districts of Budapest.Operation Whirlwind combined air strikes, artillery, and the coordinated tankinfantry action of 17 divisions. The Hungarian Army put up sporadic and uncoordinated resistance. Although some very senior officers were openly pro-Soviet, the rank and file soldiers were overwhelmingly loyal to the revolution and either fought against the invasion or deserted. The United Nations reported that there were no recorded incidents of Hungarian Army units fighting on the side of the Soviets.

At 5:20 a.m. on 4 November, Imre Nagy broadcast his final plea to the nation and the world, announcing that Soviet Forces were attacking Budapest and that the Government remained at its post. The radio station, Free Kossuth Rádió, stopped broadcasting at 8:07 a.m.An emergency Cabinet meeting was held in the Parliament building, but was attended by only three Ministers. As Soviet troops arrived to occupy the building, a negotiated evacuation ensued, leaving Minister of State István Bibó as the last representative of the National Government remaining at post. He wrote For Freedom and Truth, a stirring proclamation to the nation and the world.

At 6:00 am on 4 November, in the town of Szolnok, János Kádár proclaimed the "Hungarian Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government". His statement declared "We must put an end to the excesses of the counter-revolutionary elements. The hour for action has sounded. We are going to defend the interest of the workers and peasants and the achievements of the people's democracy." Later that evening, Kádár called upon "the faithful fighters of the true cause of socialism" to come out of hiding and take up arms. However, Hungarian support did not materialize; the fighting did not take on the character of an internally divisive civil war, but rather, in the words of a United Nations report, that of "a well-equipped foreign army crushing by overwhelming force a national movement and eliminating the Government."

By 8:00 am organised defence of the city evaporated after the radio station was seized, and many defenders fell back to fortified positions. Hungarian civilians bore the brunt of the fighting, as Soviet troops spared little effort to differentiate military from civilian targets. For this reason, Soviet tanks often crept along main roads firing indiscriminately into buildings. Hungarian resistance was strongest in the industrial areas of Budapest, which were heavily targeted by Soviet artillery and air strikes. The last pocket of resistance called for ceasefire on 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 722 Soviet troops had been killed and thousands more were wounded.

Soviet version of the events:

Soviet reports of the events surrounding, during, and after the disturbance were remarkably consistent in their accounts, more so after the Second Soviet intervention cemented support for the Soviet position amongst international Communist Parties.

Pravda published an account 36 hours after the outbreak of violence, which set the tone for all further reports and subsequent Soviet historiography: 1.

On 23 October, the "honest" socialist Hungarians demonstrated against mistakes made by the Rákosi and Gerő governments.

Fascist, Hitlerite, reactionary, counter-revolutionary hooligans financed by the imperialist west took advantage 2. of the unrest to stage a counter-revolution.

3.

The honest Hungarian people under Nagy appealed to Soviet (Warsaw Pact) forces stationed in Hungary to assist in restoring order.

4.

The Nagy government was ineffective, allowing itself to be penetrated by counter-revolutionary influences, weakening then disintegrating, as proven by Nagy's culminating denouncement of the Warsaw Pact.

5.

Hungarian patriots under Kádár broke with the Nagy government and formed a government of honest Hungarian revolutionary workers and peasants; this genuinely popular government petitioned the Soviet command to help put down the counter-revolution.

6.

Hungarian patriots, with Soviet assistance, smashed the counter-revolution.

The first Soviet report came out 24 hours after the first Western report. Nagy's appeal to the United Nations was not reported.

After Nagy was arrested outside of the Yugoslav embassy, his arrest was not reported. Nor did accounts explain how Nagy went from patriot to traitor.The Soviet press reported calm in Budapest while the Western press reported a revolutionary crisis was breaking out. According to the Soviet account, Hungarians never wanted a revolution at all.

In January 1957, representatives of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania met in Budapest to review internal developments in Hungary since the establishment of the Soviet-imposed government. A communiqué on the meeting "unanimously concluded" that Hungarian workers, with the leadership of the Kádár government and support of the Soviet army, defeated attempts "to eliminate the socialist achievements of the Hungarian people".

Soviet, Chinese and other Warsaw Pact governments urged Kádár to proceed with interrogation and trial of former Nagy government ministers, and asked for punitive measures against the"counter-revolutionists". In addition the Kádár government published an extensive series of "white books" (The Counter-Revolutionary Forces in the October Events in Hungary) documenting real incidents of violence against Communist Party and ÁVH members, and the confessions of Nagy supporters. These white books were widely distributed in several languages in most of the socialist countries and, while based in fact, present factual evidence with a colouring and narrative not generally supported by non-Soviet aligned historians.

Aftermath Hungary:

In the immediate aftermath, many thousands of Hungarians were arrested. Eventually, 26,000 of these were brought before the Hungarian courts, 22,000 were sentenced, 13,000 imprisoned, and several hundred executed. Hundreds were also deported to the Soviet Union, many without evidence. Approximately 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees. Former Hungarian Foreign Minister Géza Jeszenszky estimated 350 were executed. Sporadic armed resistance and strikes by workers' councils continued until mid-1957, causing substantial economic disruption. By 1963, most political prisoners from the 1956 Hungarian revolution had been released.

With most of Budapest under Soviet control by 8 November, Kádár became Prime Minister of the "Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government" and General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Few Hungarians rejoined the reorganized Party, its leadership having been purged under the supervision of the Soviet Presidium, led by Georgy Malenkov and Mikhail Suslov.

Although Party membership declined from 800,000 before the uprising to 100,000 by December 1956, Kádár steadily increased his control over Hungary and neutralized dissenters. The new government attempted to enlist support by espousing popular principles of Hungarian self-determination voiced during the uprising, but Soviet troops remained. After 1956 the Soviet Union severely purged the Hungarian Army and reinstituted political indoctrination in the units that remained. In May 1957, the Soviet Union increased its troop levels in Hungary and by treaty Hungary accepted the Soviet presence on a permanent basis.

The Red Cross and the Austrian Army established refugee camps in Traiskirchen and Graz. Imre Nagy along with Georg Lukács, Géza Losonczy, and László Rajk's widow, Júlia, took refuge in the Embassy of Yugoslavia as Soviet forces overran Budapest. Despite assurances of safe passage out of Hungary by the Soviets and the Kádár government, Nagy and his group were arrested when attempting to leave the embassy on 22 November and taken to Romania. Losonczy died while on a hunger strike in prison awaiting trial when his jailers "carelessly pushed a feeding tube down his windpipe." The remainder of the group was returned to Budapest in 1958. Nagy was executed, along with Pál Maléter and Miklós Gimes, after secret trials in June 1958. Their bodies were placed in unmarked graves in the Municipal Cemetery outside Budapest.

During the November 1956 Soviet assault on Budapest, Cardinal Mindszenty was granted political asylum at the United States embassy, where he lived for the next 15 years, refusing to leave Hungary unless the government reversed his 1949 conviction for treason. Because of poor health and a request from the Vatican, he finally left the embassy for Austria in September 1971.

International:

Despite Cold War rhetoric by the West espousing a rollback of the domination of Eastern Europe by the USSR, and Soviet promises of the imminent triumph of socialism, national leaders of this period as well as later historians saw the failure of the uprising in Hungary as evidence that the Cold War in Europe had become a stalemate. The Foreign Minister of West Germany recommended that the people of Eastern Europe be discouraged from "taking dramatic action which might have disastrous consequences for themselves." The Secretary-General of NATO called the Hungarian revolt "the collective suicide of a whole people". In a newspaper interview in 1957, Khrushchev commented "support by United States... is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man."

In January 1957, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, acting in response to UN General Assembly resolutions requesting investigation and observation of the events in Soviet-occupied Hungary, established the Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary.The Committee, with representatives from Australia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Denmark, Tunisia and Uruguay, conducted hearings in New York, Geneva, Rome, Vienna and London. Over five months, 111 refugees were interviewed including ministers, military commanders and other officials of the Nagy government, workers, revolutionary council members, factory managers and technicians, communists and non-communists, students, writers, teachers, medical personnel and Hungarian soldiers. Documents, newspapers, radio transcripts, photos, film footage and other records from Hungary were also reviewed, as well as written testimony of 200 other Hungarians.

The governments of Hungary and Romania refused the UN officials of the Committee entry, and the government of the Soviet Union did not respond to requests for information. The 268-page Committee Report was presented to the General Assembly in June 1957, documenting the course of the uprising and Soviet intervention, and concluding that "the Kádár government and Soviet occupation were in violation of the human rights of the Hungarian people." A General Assembly resolution was approved, deploring "the repression of the Hungarian people and the Soviet occupation", but no other action was taken.

Time magazine named the Hungarian Freedom Fighter its Man of the Year for 1956. The accompanying Time article comments that this choice could not have been anticipated until the explosive events of the revolution, almost at the end of 1956. The magazine cover and accompanying text displayed an artist's depiction of a Hungarian freedom fighter, and used pseudonyms for the three participants whose stories are the subject of the article.

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány referred to this famous Time Man of the Year cover as "the faces of free Hungary" in a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. Prime Minister Gyurcsány, in a joint appearance with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, commented specifically on the TIME cover itself, that "It is an idealised image but the faces of the figures are really the face of the revolutionaries" At the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, the Soviet handling of the Hungarian uprising led to a boycott by Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland. At the Olympic Village, the Hungarian delegation tore down the Communist Hungarian flag and raised the flag of Free Hungary in its place. A confrontation between Soviet and Hungarian teams occurred in the semi-final match of the water polo tournament. The match was extremely violent, and was halted in the final minute to quell fighting amongst spectators.

This match, now known as the "blood in the water match", became the subject of several films. The Hungarian team won the game 4–0 and later was awarded the Olympic gold medal.

The events in Hungary produced ideological fractures within the Communist parties of Western Europe. Within the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a split ensued: most ordinary members and the Party leadership, including Palmiro Togliatti and Giorgio Napolitano, regarded the Hungarian insurgents as counter-revolutionaries, as reported in l'Unità, the official PCI newspaper.

However Giuseppe Di Vittorio, chief of the Communist trade union CGIL, repudiated the leadership position, as did the prominent party members Antonio Giolitti, Loris Fortuna and many other influential Communist intellectuals, who later were expelled or left the party. Pietro Nenni, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, a close ally of the PCI, opposed the Soviet intervention as well. Napolitano, elected in 2006 as President of the Italian Republic, wrote in his 2005 political autobiography that he regretted his justification of Soviet action in Hungary, and that at the time he believed in Party unity and the international leadership of Soviet communism.

Within the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), dissent that began with the repudiation of Stalin by John Saville and E.P. Thompson, influential historians and members of the Communist Party Historians Group, culminated in a loss of thousands of party members as events unfolded in Hungary. Peter Fryer, correspondent for the CPGB newspaper The Daily Worker, reported accurately on the violent suppression of the uprising, but his dispatches were heavily censored; Fryer resigned from the paper upon his return, and was later expelled from the communist party. In France, moderate communists, such as historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, resigned, questioning the policy of supporting Soviet actions by the French Communist Party. The French philosopher and writer Albert Camus wrote an open letter, The Blood of the Hungarians, criticizing the West's lack of action. Even Jean-Paul Sartre, still a determined communist, criticised the Soviets in his article Le Fantôme de Staline, in Situations VII.

Commemoration:

In December, 1991, the preamble of the treaties with the dismembered Soviet Union, under Mikhail Gorbachev, and Russia, represented by Boris Yeltsin, apologized officially for the 1956 Soviet actions in Hungary. This apology was repeated by Yeltsin in 1992 during a speech to the Hungarian parliament.

On 13 February 2006, the US State Department commemorated the Fiftieth anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Former US Secretary of State Rice commented on the contributions made by 1956 Hungarian refugees to the United States and other 1956 Revolution Flag flyhost countries, as well as the role of Hungary in providing refuge to East Germans during the 1989 protests against communist rule. US President George W. Bush also vis- ing in front of the Hungarited Hungary on 22 June 2006, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary. ian Parliament Building On June 16, 1989, the 30th anniversary of his execution, Imre Nagy's body was reburied with full honors. The Republic of Hungary was declared in 1989 on the 33rd anniversary of the Revolution, and 23 October is now a Hungarian national holiday.

Contributed by: Attila SZANTO

Anniversary of Presiden Ndadaye's Death Burundi - Oct 21

Melchior Ndadaye (March 28, 1953 – October 21, 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election. Though he moved to attempt to smooth the country's bitter ethnic divide, his reforms antagonised soldiers in the Tutsidominated army, and he was assassinated amidst a failed military coup in October 1993, after only three months in office. His assassination sparked an array of brutal tit-for-tat massacres between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups, and ultimately sparked the decade-long Burundi Civil War.

Early life

Ndadaye was born in the town of Murama in Muramvya Province. He began studying as a teacher, but his education was interrupted by the massacres of 1972, whereupon he was forced to flee to Rwanda to avoid being killed. He finished his degree in education at the National University of Rwanda, and then completed a second degree in banking at the National Academy of Arts and Trades in France. He worked as a banker thereafter.

Republic Day Kazakhstan - Oct 25

In the waning days of Soviet rule, individual republics of the Soviet Union sought greater autonomy. The Soviet Union agreed in early 1990 to give up its monopoly of political power. Following the lead of Lithuanian SSR, Russian SFSR and others, Kazakh SSR declared its sovereignty on 25 October 1990, and Kazakhstan subsequently became independent on 16 December 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed. 25 October, the anniversary of the adoption of the "Declaration on State Sovereignty of Kazakh SSR" by the Kazakh legislature in 1990, is now commemorated as Republic Day (Kazakh: Республика күні, Respwblïka küni), a public holiday in Kazakhstan.

Angam Day Nauru - Oc t 2 6

career Political Ndadaye had become involved in politics while in Rwanda, serving as the inaugural president of the Mouvement

des Étudiants Progressistes Barundi au Rwanda, a movement of exiled Burundian students from 1976 to 1979. He was involved in the foundation of the Burundi Workers' Party in 1979, and was actively involved in the party until his resignation in 1983 as a result of a dispute over party strategy. Ndadaye returned to Burundi in September of that year, by which time he was developing a political following of his own.

Ndadaye had been a key leader of the Burundi Workers' Party, and it subsequently fell into decline after his departure, ultimately being disbanded in the mid-1980s. Although opposition parties were banned in Burundi itself under the rule of military dictator Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, in 1986, Ndadaye and his supporters founded a new underground political movement, the moderate Front for Democracy in Burundi(FRODEBU). It remained underground until 1992, when Pierre Buyoya began a process of political liberalisation in advance of the country'sfirst ever democratic elections and allowed the party to officially register.

The elections, held in June 1993, saw Ndadaye, endorsed by FRODEBU and three other predominately Hutu parties, the Rally for the People of Burundi (RPB), People's Party (PP), and the Liberal Party (PL), face up against the ruling Tutsi-dominated government under Buyoya. With the Hutu the dominant population in Burundi, Ndadaye won a crushing victory, receiving 65% of the vote to Buyoya's 32%. The poll was certified by international observers as being free and fair, and none of the candidates contested the poll. It was followed by success for his party in the legislative elections held later that month, winning 65 of 81 seats. After surviving a failed coup attempt on July 3, Ndadaye was sworn in as President of Burundi on July 10, 1993. The victory made him both the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi.

The Nauruan word angam means "jubilation", "celebration", "to have triumphed over all hardships" or "to have reached a set goal" or "coming home".

rundian society. He namedSylvie Kinigi, a female Tutsi, as the Prime Minister, and gave one third of the Cabinet posts and two regional governorships to Buyoya's Union for National Progress. He freed political prisoners, granted freedom of the press, granted amnesty to exiled former dictator Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, and moved slowly to address the entrenched disadvantage of the Hutus that had resulted from many years of minority Tutsi rule, so as not to exacerbate tensions.

Despite his cautious approach to the presidency, some of his actions nevertheless provoked tensions in the community. He questioned contracts and concessions approved under previous Tutsi governments, which threatened the economics of the powerful Tutsi elite and army. He began reforms to the military, shifting the national police to a separate command and changing the admission requirements for the military and police so as to reduce the entrenched Tutsi dominance. The dominance of FRODEBU caused problems at a local level, as Ndadaye's Hutu supporters took over many positions previously held by Tutsis in the public service, and botched the resettlement of refugees returning after the 1972 massacres in such a way as to leave many Tutsi families homeless. These issues were exacerbated by the newly-free press, who began reporting in such a way as to inflame ethnic tensions.

History

Presidency Ndadaye took a cautious, moderate approach as President, and attempted to resolve the deep ethnic divide in Bu-

Overthrow and death

Ndadaye's government was to be short-lived, however, as he was overthrown and killed in a military coup on October 21. The exact events have never been clarified, but it appears that Ndadaye, Pontien Karibwami, the president of the National Assembly and Gilles Bimazubute, the vice-president of the National Assembly, were taken to an army barracks before dawn by supposedly loyal soldiers under the guise that there had been a mutiny by sections of the army and that they needed protection. The three, along with a number of other officials and cabinet members, were then executed, with Ndadaye bayonetted to death.

Ndadaye's death sparked severe ramifications across the country. The attempted coup rapidly failed, as Francois Ngeze, the civilian politician installed as temporary head of state, refused to support the coup leaders and called for Prime Minister Kinigi, who had survived the coup and was in hiding at the French embassy to assume control, a move soon backed by key military chiefs. Kinigi was thus appointed as acting president while a resolution to the constitutional crisis caused by the assassination of both the president and the president of the assembly was found.

The United Nations Security Council condemned the assassination and coup, and was soon followed in doing so by the United Nations General Assembly. Many thousands of civilians on both sides were killed in the resulting carnage, with estimates varying but generally agreed to be above 100,000. The ongoing violence developed into the decadelong Burundi Civil War. A United Nations investigation into Ndadaye's murder, the result of which was released in 1996, accused the army command of being responsible for the assassination and of being complicit in the resulting massacres by Tutsi troops. It did not name specific figures as being responsible, but Buyoya, Ndadaye's predecessor as president, has long been suspected of having some role in the assassination.

In 1999, as part of attempts to end the civil war, an array of arrests were made of those suspected of involvement in the Ndadaye assassination. Five men, including the alleged ringleader, army officer Paul Kamana, were sentenced to death. 74 others received sentences ranging from one year to twenty years. Most of the high-ranking officials charged, however, were acquitted, in a verdict condemned by Ndadaye's supporters.

St. Ursula Day British Virgin Islands - Oc t 2 1

St. Ursula’s Day commemorates the Roman Catholic Saint after whom Columbus named the whole archipelago of islands.

Columbus gave them the fanciful name Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes (Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins), shortened to Las Vírgenes (The Virgins). The figure on the Territory’s crest is also supposed to represent St. Ursula and the lamps the Virgins. Ursula is Latin and means little female bear.

HISTORY Not much is known about the history of St Ursula and her

11.000 virgins, except for what was told by Helentrude, a nun of Heerse near Paderborn in Germany. According to legend, Ursula was a beautiful British princess, daughter of a Christian king, Dionotus of Cornwall. Ursula had taken a vow of chastity, but against her will she was promised in marriage to Conan Meriadoc of Brittany, a pagan prince.

Ursula was warned in a dream by an angel to demand the conversion of the prince to Christianity and three years to gather 11.000 for her future kingdom. When she was sent to her husband to be, Ursula was accompanied by 11.000 virginal handmaidens. However, a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, where Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake an European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome, with her followers, and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus, and Sulpicius, Bishop of Ravenna, to join them. On their return, Cologne, Germany, was being sacked by the Huns, who after Ursula refused some advances of their prince, beheaded all 11.001 of them, supposedly in 383 (the date varies). One of the 11,000, St Cordula, escaped death on the first day by hiding, wrote down the tale for posterity, then gave herself up to join her sisters in martyrdom.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIES

Considering that there is no work on this day and that the Virgin Islands are surrounded by clear water seas, it is hard to believe that most of islanders would celebrate this holiday away from the beach. The Royal British Virgin Islands Yacht Club annually organizes a St Ursula’s day race. There are different religious celebrations organized all over the 60 islands, who are predominantly Protestant Christian. There are some political movements that want to change the day from the remembrance of the naming of the archipelago by a holiday to recognize fishermen, sailors and boat builders, in appreciation of the Islands marine heritage.

Chulalongkorn Day Thailand - O c t 2 3

"Chulalongkorn Day" or "Piyamaharaj Day" is celebrated on 23rd October of every year. It is the day that our King Chulalongkorn, or King Rama V, died. He is one of our most important kings in the past. The most important thing he did is abolish slavery but he also did many other reforms in order to modernize the country.

King Chulalongkorn (Phra Chulachom Klao Chaoyuhua or RamaV) succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, King Mongkut (or Phra Chom Klao). He was born on September 20, 1853 the first son of Queen Ramphai Pamarapirom (Thepsirindra) and the 9th surviving son of King Mongkut. King Rama V ascended the Throne in 1868 at the age of 15, with Chao Phraya Sri Suriyawongse as Regent.

King Rama V’s long reign of 42-years was a busy era of fullscale reform and the emergence of Thailand into the modern age. He learned the systems of Western Governments, made friends with major powers such as Britain, France, America and Russia and sent the royal children to be educated in the West. It seems he was prepared to learn from the West while at the same time, resisting domination by the major powers. Above all, he was the first Thai monarch who traveled widely: to neighboring countries in Asia and to Europe twice. Wherever he went, he was impressed by the hospitality and respect shown to him by the Royalty of the various countries.

The King’s reforms, which involved almost every aspect of Thai life, included the abolition of slavery, the expansion of the communication system through the construction of railways, the establishment of post and telegraph services and the creation of a ministerial system in 1892. In addition, the King also established a variety of public utilities, particularly in the fields of health and education. Unfortunately, world events at that time did not allow him to proceed smoothly with his administrative reform as it coincided with the age of colonialism. The King, therefore, had to adapt his foreign policy to maintain a balance between the contending powers. He fostered friendly relations with all powers and avoided confrontation. In the last period of his reign, the country lost a lot of land to France. Thus, at the time of crisis, even though Thailand had to sacrifice some of her territories, she was able to keep her independence.

King Chulalongkorn wanted to make the people less subservient, thus, in 1873 after the coronation, he proclaimed that prostration in front of the king was to be abolished. Later, in 1905 he abolished slavery. This slave abolition was the most important royal contribution. The Slave Act was passed by King Rama V in 1905 to prohibit slave-trade.

The King traveled extensively throughout the kingdom to personally investigate and share his subjects’ conditions and aspirations, often known in Thai as “Prapasstion”. It is very difficult to mention all of his numerous reforms. All the present-day ministries and departments owe their origin of his far-sighted concepts.

His death on October 23, 1910 was a great loss to the entire nation as he was one of the most honored and beloved kings who was often called “Somdej Phra Piyamaharaj”. Moreover, Thai people also believed in the King’s miraculous power of bringing good luck and prosperity to the person who pays respect to him. Thus, the King’s picture is found in almost every house. Thai people from all walks of life lay wreaths at his equestrian statue at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok and his statues in the provinces.

National Mole Day U.S. - Oct 23

Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM, making the date 6:02 10/23 in the American style of writing dates. The time and date are derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×1023, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance, one of the seven base SI units.

Mole Day originated in an article in The Science Teacher in the early 1980s. Inspired by this article, Maurice Oehler, now a retired high school chemistry teacher from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, founded the National Mole Day Foundation (NMDF) on May 15, 1991.

Many high schools around the United States, South Africa, Australia and in Canada celebrate Mole Day as a way to get their students interested in chemistry, with various activities often related to chemistry or moles.

Cambodia Peace Treaty Day Cambodia - Oct 23

Angam Day is a holiday recognized in the Republic of Nauru. It is celebrated yearly on October 26.

Etymology

General

Angam Day is a day of celebration and a time of reflection for the Nauruan people. Twice in its history, the Nauruan population fell below 1,500, and the Nauruan ethnic group have been considered in danger of extinction. On both octhe Nauruan casions population recovered. Upon eclipsing a population of 1,500, a number considered to be the minimum required for the survival of a race, Angam Day was declared. The first Angam was in 1932 and the second occasion in 1949.

Before Angam:

The first goal came about in 1919, just after World War I, when the war-time occupation of Nauru and other Pacific islands by Imperial Germany ended, and Nauru came under the mandate of Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Brigadier General Griffith, the Australian Administrator, held a census. Later, in a meeting with local chiefs, he declared that the population of Nauruans was alarmingly low and that if the Nauruans were to survive as a race, the population should be no less than 1,500. It was declared that when the population of 1,500 was reached, that day would be called Angam Day, would be a public holiday and would be commemorated every year thereafter. Furthermore, the baby who completed the set target would be the Angam Baby and would receive gifts and honour.

First Angam:

After thirteen years, the Nauruan population reached 1,500 to much jubilation and celebrations. The first Angam Baby was born on October 26, 1932. It turned out there was to be more than one Angam. During the Japanese occupation of Nauru and other Pacific territories during WWII, 1,201 Nauruans were evacuated to Truk (now Chuuk). Of the 1,201 evacuees to Truk only 737 returned after the war, and of the about 600 left behind on Nauru, a total of around 400 survived.

The Angam girl, Eidegenegen Eidagaruwo, didn't make it back from Truk for she had died of malnutrition and yaws like most of the other Nauruans who had died in Truk.

Second Angam:

The aftermath of WWII showed the Nauruans that, to survive as a race, they would have to strive to increase their population for a second time. The race for a new Angam Baby was on.

On March 31, 1949, the people of Boe celebrated when Bethel Enproe Adam was born to parents Kenye and Clarence Adam. Since then, the Nauruans have been able to celebrate Angam once again. Even though Bethel Enproe was born on a different date, October 26 is still held as the official Angam Day.

National Day Austria - Oct 26

National Day of Austria is October 26, 2009, and commemorates the day in 1955 when the Soviet Union ended its occupation, and Austria passed a law of perpetual neutrality.

History

Austrian history as such dates back to 976, when Leopold von Babenberg became the ruler of much of present-day Austria. In 1276 Rudolf I became the first Habsburg to ascend to the throne. The Hapsburgs ruled for the next 750 years, a period during which the Austrian Empire accumulated vast land wealth and fought off challenges from the Ottoman Empire.

In 1848, Franz Josef I ascended to the throne and saw many milestones in Austrian history, including The Compromise of 1867, which gave greater political rights to Hungary within the Empire and created the Dual Monarchy. In the 20th century, political unity continued to deteriorate. Following World War I, the Empire collapsed and the Austrian Republic was established in 1919. From 1918 to 1934, Austria experienced increasing political turmoil. In 1934, a corporatist and authoritarian government came into power in Austria, and later that year, Austrian National Socialists launched an unsuccessful coup d’etat. In February 1938, under renewed threats from Germany, Chancellor Schuschnigg was forced to accept Austrian National Socialists (Nazis) in his government. On March 12, Germany sent its military forces into Austria and annexed the country. After liberation in April 1945, the allies divided Austria into zones of occupation, with a four-power administration of Vienna.

The 1955 Austrian State Treaty ended the four-power occupation and recognized Austria as an independent and sovereign state. The Treaty was signed on May 15, 1955 and came into effect on July 27, 1955. All occupying forces departed by October 25, 1955, and Austria became free and independent for the first time since 1938. The date on which this provision passed–October 26–became Austria’s National Day.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIES

The celebration of National Holiday in Austria has come to be marked by a national “fitness day” with many people all over Austria taking long walks. The Parliament building and all national museums are open, but stores and many other businesses are closed.

Independence Day St. Vincent & the Grenadines- Oct 27

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Anchain, tilles namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean. Its 389-square-kilometre (150 sq mi) territory consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines, which are a chain of smaller islands stretching south from Saint Vincent Island to Grenada. To the north of Saint Vincent lies Saint Lucia, to the east Barbados. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is densely populated (over 300 inhabitants/km2) with its 120,000 people. Its capital is Kingstown, also its main port. The country has a French and British colonial history and is now part of theOrganisation of Eastern Caribbean States, CARICOM, the Commonwealth of Nations and theBolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

History

The island now known as Saint Vincent was originally named Hairouna ("The Land of the Blessed") by the native Caribs. The Caribs aggressively prevented European settlement on Saint Vincent until 1719. Prior to this, formerly enslaved Africans, who had either been shipwrecked or who had escaped from Barbados, Saint Lucia and Grenada and sought refuge in mainland Saint Vincent, intermarried with the Caribs and became known as Garifuna orBlack Caribs.

Beginning in 1719, French settlers gained control of the island and began cultivating coffee, tobacco, indigo, cotton, and sugar on plantations. These plantations were worked by enslaved Africans. In 1763, France ceded control of Saint Vincent to Britain. However, France re-invaded the island in 1779. The French regained control after landing at Calliaqua, near Fort Duvernette. The British then finally regained Saint Vincent under the Treaties of Versailles (1783).

These treaties were ancillary treaties to the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which Great Britain officially recognised the end of the American Revolution.

Between 1783 and 1796, there was conflict between the British and the Black Caribs, who were led by defiant Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer. In 1796 British General Sir Ralph Abercromby put an end to the open conflict by crushing a revolt which had been fomented by the French radical Victor Hugues. More than 5,000 Black Caribs were eventually deported toRoatán, an island off the coast of Honduras.

Slavery was abolished in Saint Vincent 1834. An apprenticeship period followed which ended in 1838. After its end, labour shortages on the plantations resulted, and this was initially addressed by the immigration of indentured servants.

In the late 1840s many Portuguese immigrants arrived from Madeira and between 1861 and 1888 shiploads of East Indian labourers arrived. Conditions remained harsh for both former slaves and immigrant agricultural workers, as depressed world sugar prices kept the economy stagnant until the turn of the century.

From 1763 until its independence in 1979, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines passed through various stages of colonial status under the British. A representative assembly was authorised in 1776, Crown Colony government was installed in 1877, a legislative council was created in 1925, and universal adult suffrage was granted in 1951.

During the period of its control of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the British made several unsuccessful attempts to affiliate the island with other Windward Islands. This would have simplified Britain's control over the region through a unified administration. In the 1960s, several regional islands under British control, including Saint Vincent, also made an independent attempt to unify. The unification was to be called the West Indies Federation and was driven by a desire to gain freedom from British rule. The attempt collapsed in 1962.

Saint Vincent was granted "associate statehood" status by Britain on October 27, 1969. This gave Saint Vincent complete control over its internal affairs but was short of full independence. On October 27, 1979, following a referendum under Milton Cato, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines became the last of the Windward Islands to gain independence.

Independence came on the 10th anniversary of Saint Vincent's associate statehood status.

Natural disasters have featured in the country's history. In 1902, La Soufrière volcano erupted, killing 2,000 people.

Much farmland was damaged, and the economy deteriorated. In April 1979, La Soufrière erupted again. Although no one was killed, thousands had to be evacuated, and again there was extensive agricultural damage. In 1980 and 1987, hurricanes compromised banana and coconut plantations. 1998 and 1999 also saw very active hurricane seasons, with Hurricane Lenny in 1999 causing extensive damage to the west coast of the island.

On November 25, 2009, a referendum was held in which voters were asked to approve a new constitution, which would make the country a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state with a non-executive President. A two-thirds majority was required, but it was defeated by 29,019 votes (55.64 per cent) to 22,493 (43.13 per cent).

Navy Day U.S. - Oct 27

Cambodia celebrates the peace treaty among the opposing factions that was signed in Paris on October 23 in 1991.

History

The Khmer Rouge attacked its neighboring countries in 1977, to reclaim territories it lost many centuries before. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in November 1978 to stop Khmer Rouge incursions across the border and the genocide in Cambodia.

In January 1979, Vietnam created a protectorate regime called the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). The new regime restored much of Cambodia’s way of life, which includes the practice of Buddhism and a national education system.

Vietnam deployed more than 100,000 troops in Cambodia in the 1980s. The economy of Cambodia further deteriorated under continuous fighting between PRK and DK forces. The claimed thousands of lives, people were either killed in battle or maimed by landmines. Cambodia’s foreign minister, Hun Sen, became prime minister of the PRK in 1985.

Talks began in Paris to try to settle the Cambodian civil war in 1987. Vietnam proclaimed its plans to pull out its occupying forces from Cambodia in 1989. On October 23, 1991, all of Cambodia’s opposing factions signed a peace treaty. The United Nations assumed the government’s administrative functions as agreed in the treaty. Under the auspices of the United Nations the elections were held in May 1993. In September 1993, a new democratic government was installed.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIES

Cambodia’s holidays and festivals are a time of great jubilation for the largely rural populace. The people make an effort to go to the capital in order to take part in the celebrations and witness the organized fireworks displays, which accompany the festivals.

Independence Day Zambia - Oct 24

Zambia officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around the capital Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt to the northwest.

Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region of what is now Zambia was reached by theBantu expansion by ca. the 12th century. After visits by European explorers starting in the 18th century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.

On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the first head of state. Zambia was governed by Kenneth Kaunda of the socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) from 1964 until 1991. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state with UNIP the sole legal political party. From 1991 to 2002, Zambia was governed by president Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy during which the country saw a rise in social-economic growth and increased decentralisation of government. Levy Mwanawasa was the third President of Zambia. He presided over the country from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. He is credited with having initiated a campaign to rid the country of corruption, and increasing standards of living from the levels left by Frederick T.J. Chiluba.

The World Bank in 2010 named Zambia as one of the world's fastest economically reforming countries. The headquarters of COMESA are in the capital Lusaka.

Etymology The territory of what is now Zambia was known as Northern

Rhodesia from 1911. It was renamed to Zambia on the occasion of its independence, in 1964. The new name of Zambia was derived from the Zambezi river (Zambezi may mean "God's river") which flows through the western region of the country.

History

A statue of David Livingstone on the

The area of modern Zambia was inhabited by Khoisan huntergatherers until around AD 300, when more technologically ad- Zambian side of Victoria Falls. vanced migrating ethnic groups began to displace or absorb them. In the 12th century, major waves of Bantu-speaking immigrants arrived during the Bantu expansion. Among them, the Tonga people (also called BaTonga, "Ba-" meaning "woman") were the first to settle in Zambia and are believed to have come from the east near the "big sea".

The Nkoya people also arrived early in the expansion, coming from the Luba–Lunda kingdoms located in the southern parts of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola, followed by a much larger influx, especially between the late 12th and early 13th centuries. In the early 19th century, the Nsokolo people settled in the Mbala district of Northern Province. During the 19th century, the Ngoni and Sotho peoples arrived from the south.

By the late 19th century, most of the various peoples of Zambia were established in the areas they currently occupy.

The arrival of Europeans was just yet another such influx.

The earliest account of a European visiting the area was Francisco de Lacerda in the late 18th century, followed by other European visitors in the 19th century. The most prominent of these was David Livingstone, who had a vision of ending the slave trade through the "3 Cs" (Christianity, Commerce and Civilization).

He was the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River in 1855, naming them "Victoria Falls" after Queen Victoria. Locally the falls are known as "Mosi-o-Tunya" or "(the) thundering smoke" (in the Lozi or Kololo dialect). The town of Livingstone, near the falls, is named after him. Highly publicised accounts of his journeys motivated a wave of European visitors, missionaries and traders after his death in 1873.

In 1888, the British South Africa Company (BSA Company), led by Cecil Rhodes, obtained mineral rights from the Litunga, the king of the Lozi or Ba-rotse for the area which later became North-Western Rhodesia. To the east, in December 1897 a section of the Angoni or Ngoni (originally from Zululand) under Tsinco, the son of King Mpezeni, rebelled, but the rebellion was put down, and Mpezeni accepted the Pax Britannica. That part of the country then came to be known as North-Eastern Rhodesia. In 1895, Rhodes asked his American scout Frederick Russell Burnham to look for minerals and ways to improve river navigation in the region, and it was during this trek that Burnham discovered major copper deposits along the Kafue River.

North-Eastern Rhodesia and North-Western Rhodesia were administered as separate units until 1911 when they were merged to form the British Colony of Northern Rhodesia. In 1923, the BSA Company ceded control of Northern Rhodesia to the British Government after the government decided not to renew the Company's charter.

That same year, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a conquered territory which was also administered by the BSA Company, became a self-governing British Dominion. In 1924, after negotiations, administration of Northern Rhodesia transferred to the British Colonial Office. In 1953, the creation of theFederation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland grouped together Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia andNyasaland (now Malawi) as a single semi-autonomous region. This was undertaken despite opposition from a sizeable minority of Africans, who demonstrated against it in 1960–61. Northern Rhodesia was the centre of much of the turmoil and crisis characterizing the federation in its last years. Initially, Harry Nkumbula's African National Congress (ANC) led the campaign that Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) subsequently took up.

A two-stage election held in October and December 1962 resulted in an African majority in the legislative council and an uneasy coalition between the two African na- Liberation statue in tionalist parties. The council passed resolutions calling for Northern Rhodesia's front of a government secession from the federation and demanding full internal self-government under a building new constitution and a new National Assembly based on a broader, more democratic franchise. The federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963, and in January 1964, Kaunda won the first and only election for Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia. The Colonial Governor, Sir Evelyn Hone, was very close to Kaunda and urged him to stand for the post. Soon after, there was an uprising in the north of the country known as the Lumpa Uprising led by Alice Lenshina – Kaunda's first internal conflict as leader of the nation.

Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 October 1964, with Kaunda as the first president.

At independence, despite its considerable mineral wealth, Zambia faced major challenges. Domestically, there were few trained and educated Zambians capable of running the government, and the economy was largely dependent on foreign expertise. There were over 70,000 British in Zambia in 1964, who were of great economic importance.

During the next decade, Kaunda's regime supported movements such as UNITA in Angola; the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa; and the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).[citation needed] Kaunda developed close relations with communist regimes in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Kaunda also developed a close friendship with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Conflict with Rhodesia resulted in the closure of the border with that country in 1973 and severe problems with international transport and power supply. However, the Kariba hydroelectric station on the Zambezi River provided sufficient capacity to satisfy the country's requirements for electricity (despite the fact that the control centre was on the Rhodesian side of the border). A railway to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, built with Chinese assistance, reduced Zambian dependence on railway lines south to South Africa and west through an increasingly troubled Angola. Until the completion of the railway, however, Zambia's major artery for imports and the critical export of copper was along the TanZam Road, running from Zambia to the port cities in Tanzania. The Tazama oil pipeline was also built from Dar-es-Salaam to Ndola in Zambia.

By the late 1970s, Mozambique and Angola had attained independence from Portugal. Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980 in accordance with the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. Zambia's problems, however, were not solved. Civil war in the former Portuguese colonies created an influx of refugees and caused continuing transportation problems. The Benguela railway, which extended west through Angola, was essentially closed to traffic from Zambia by the late 1970s. Zambia's strong support for the ANC (despite both the Zambian ANC and the SA ANC being banned within Zambia), which had its external headquarters in Lusaka, created security problems as South Africa raided South African ANC mil- Mwata Kazembe XVII Paul itary training camps in Zambia.

In the mid-1970s, the price of copper, Zambia's principal export, suffered Kanyembo Lutaba, chief of the a severe decline worldwide. In Zambia's situation, the cost of transporting Lunda people in Zambia in the copper great distances to market was an additional strain. Zambia 1961. turned to foreign and international lenders for relief, but, as copper prices remained depressed, it became increasingly difficult to service its growing debt. By the mid-1990s, despite limited debt relief, Zambia's per capita foreign debt remained among the highest in the world.

In June 1990 riots against Kaunda accelerated. Many protesters were killed by the regime in breakthrough June 1990 protests. Kaunda faced one coup attempt in 1990. In 1991, Kaunda agreed to re-institute multiparty democracy (having instated one party rule under the Chona Commission of 1972) and was replaced by multiparty elections.

In the 2000s, the economy stabilized, attaining single-digit inflation in 2006–2007, real GDP growth, decreasing interest rates, and increasing levels of trade. Much of its growth is due to foreign investment in Zambia's mining sector and higher copper prices on the world market. All this led to Zambia being courted enthusiastically by aid donors, and saw a surge, in investor confidence in the country reflected in a growing number of investors.

United Nations Day Oct 24

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.

In 1971 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a further resolution (United Nations Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by all United Nations member states.

United Nations Day is devoted to making known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.

Commemoration United Nations Day has traditionally been marked throughout the world with meetings, discussions and exhibits

about the achievements and goals of the organization. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that member states observe it as a public holiday.

Several international schools throughout the world also celebrate the diversity of their student body on United Nations Day (although the event is not necessarily celebrated on 24 October). Celebrations often include a show of cultural performances in the evening and a food fair, where food is available from all over the world.

In the United States, the President has issued a proclamation each year for United Nations Day since 1946. The most recent such proclamation was issued by Barack Obama.

In Kosovo, United Nations Day is an official non-working day as the province is administered by the Interim Administration Mission.

World Development Information Day Oct 24

In 1972, the United Nations General Assembly decided to institute a World Development Information Day coinciding with United Nations Day on 24 October. The General Assembly had the object of drawing the attention of world public-opinion each year to development problems and the necessity of strengthening international co-operation to solve them.

The day was further recognized as the date on which the International Development Strategy for the Second Nations Development Decade was adopted in 1970.

On May 17, 1972, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) proposed measures for information dissemination and for the mobilization of public opinion relative to trade and development problems. These became known as resolution 3038 (XXVII), which the UN General Assembly passed on December 19, 1972. This resolution called for introducing World Development Information Day to help draw the attention of people worldwide to development problems. A further aim of the event is to explain to the general public why it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation to find ways to solve these problems. The assembly also decided that the day should coincide with United Nations Day to stress the central role of development in the UN's work. World Development Information Day was first held on October 24, 1973, and has been held on this date each year since then.

In recent years many events have interpreted the title of the day slightly differently. These have concentrated on the role that modern information-technologies, such as the Internet and mobile telephones can play in alerting people and finding solutions to problems of trade and development. One of the specific aims of World Development Information Day was to inform and motivate young people and this change may help to further this aim.

Constitution Day Lithuania - Oct 25

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija) defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. It was approved in a referendum on October 25, 1992.

History

Lithuania's first constitution was adopted on May 3, 1791 in an effort to reform the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, consisting of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. However, it was short-lived and was never completely implemented. The Third Partitions of Poland took place in 1795 and the commonwealth ceased to exist when Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire.

After World War I, Lithuania declared independence on February 16, 1918. Three separate draft constitutions were presented on November 2, 1918, April 4, 1919 and June 10, 1920. The Constituent Assembly (Steigiamasis Seimas) did not adopt a constitution until August 1, 1922. It resembled modern Western European constitutions. In 1928 and 1938 new constitutions were adopted to reflect the authoritarian leadership of Antanas Smetona. In 1940 and 1978, new constitutions of Lithuanian SSR were adopted, similar to the other Soviet constitutions.

In the United States, the Navy League of the United States organized the first Navy Day in 1922, holding it on October 27 because it was the birthday of the navy-obsessed President Theodore Roosevelt. Although meeting with mixed reviews the first year, in 1923 over 50 major cities participated, and the United States Navy sent a number of its ships to various port cities for the occasion. The 1945 Navy Day was an especially large celebration, with President Harry S. Trumanreviewing the fleet in New York Harbor.

In 1949, Louis A. Johnson, secretary of the newly created Department of Defense, directed that the U.S. Navy's participation occur on Armed Forces Day in May, although as a civilian organization the Navy League was not affected by this directive, and continued to organize Navy Day celebrations as before. In the 1970s, the "birthday" of the Continental Navy was found to be October 13, 1775, and so CNO Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt worked with the Navy League to define October 13 as the new date of Navy Day. However, Navy Day in the United States is still largely recognized as October 27th.

Independence Day Czech Republic- O c t 2 7

The Czech Reshort public form Česko is a landlocked country in CenEurope. tral The country is by bordered Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.

It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the the OSCE, Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.

The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749).

In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I. After the Munich Agreement, Polish annexation of Zaolzie and German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the consequent disillusion with the Western response and gratitude for the liberation of the major portion of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the plurality in the 1946 elections. In a 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a communist-ruled state. In 1968, the increasing dissatisfaction culminated in attempts to reform the communist regime. The events, known as the Prague Spring of 1968, ended with an invasion by the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries (with the exception ofRomania); the troops remained in the country until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into its constituent states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

The Czech Republic is the first former member of the Comecon to achieve the status of adeveloped country according to the World Bank. In addition, the country has the highesthuman development in Central and Eastern Eu- Charles IV, 1316–78, rope, ranking as a "Very High Human Development" nation. It is also ranked as the third most peaceful country in Europe and most democratic and healthy eleventh king of Bohemia, elected as theNejvětší Čech (by infant mortality) country in the region.

(Greatest Czech) of all time.

Etymology The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin "Boiohaemum", which means "home of the Boii". The current

name comes from the Czech endonym Čechy using the antiquated spelling Czechy, identical with the Polish one.

The country has been traditionally divided into lands, namely Bohemia proper (Čechy) in the west, Moravia (Morava) in the southeast, and Czech Silesia (Slezsko; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the northeast. Known officially as the "Crown of the Kingdom of Bohemia" since the 14th century, a number of other names of the country had been used, including the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, Czech/Bohemian lands, Bohemian Crown, Lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslas etc. When the country regained its independence after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, the new name ofCzechoslovakia was coined to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak nations within the new country.

Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word name in English. In 1993, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ (Česko [ˈtʃɛskɔ] in Czech) as an official alternative in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions; however, this has not become widespread in English, even though most other languages have single-word names for the country (usually their own variants of "Czechia").

History

Prehistory:

Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Neolithic era. In the classical era, from the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, the Boii and later in the 1st century, Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. During the Migration Period around the 5th century, many Germanic tribes moved westwards and southwards out of Central Europe.

Slavic people from the Black Sea and Carpathian regions settled in the area (a movement that was also stimulated by the onslaught of peoples from Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars,Bulgars and Magyars). Following first president of Czechosloin the Germans' wake, they moved southwards into Bohemia, Moravia and some of present day Austria. During the 7th century, the Frankish merchant vakia.

Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe.

The Moravian principality arose in the 8th century.

Bohemia:

The Bohemian or Czech state emerged in the late 9th century, when it was unified by thePřemyslid dynasty. The Kingdom of Bohemia was, as the only kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, a significant regional power during the Middle Ages. It was part of the Empire from 1002 till 1804, with the exception of years 1440–1526.

In 1212, King Přemysl Otakar I, bearing the title "king" since 1198, extracted a Golden Bull of Sicily (a formal edict) from the emperor, confirming the royal title for Otakar and his descendants. Large-scaleGerman immigration occurred in the 13th century. The Germans populated towns and mining districts on the Bohemian periphery and, in some cases, formed German colonies in the interior of the Czech lands. In 1235, the mighty Mongol army launched an invasion of Europe. After the Battle of Legnica, the Mongols carried their devastating raid into Moravia, but they were beaten by the Czech royal army in a battle of Olomouc and continued into Hungarian lands.

King Přemysl Otakar II earned the nickname "Iron and Golden King" because of his military power and wealth. He acquired Austria, Styria,Carinthia and Carniola, thus spreading the Bohemian territory to theAdriatic Sea. He met his death at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278 in a war with his rival, King Rudolph I of Germany. Ottokar's son Wenceslaus II acquired the Polish crown in 1300 for himself and the Hungarian crown for his son. In 1306, the last king of Přemyslid line was murdered in mysterious circumstances in Olomouc while he was resting. After a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne.

The 14th century, particularly the reign of Charles IV, is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348. The Black Death, which had raged in Europe from 1347 to 1352, decimated the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1380, killing about 10% of the population.

In the 15th century, the religious and social reformer Jan Hus formed a movement later named after him. Although Hus was named a heretic and burnt in Constanz in 1415, his followers seceded from the Catholic Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.

Petr Chelčický continued with Czech Hussite Reformation movement. During the next two centuries, 90% of the inhabitants became adherents of the Hussite Christian movement.

After 1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. The Defenestration of Prague and subsequent revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618 marked the start of the Thirty Years' War, which quickly spread throughout Central Europe. In 1620, the rebellion in Bohemia was crushed at the Battle of White Mountain, and the ties between Bohemia and Habsburgs' hereditary lands in Austria were strengthened. The war had a devastating effect on the local population; the people were given the choice either to convert to Catholicism or leave the country.

The following period, from 1620 to the late 18th century, has been often called the "Dark Age". The population of the Czech lands declined by a third through war, disease, famine and the expulsion of the Protestant Czechs. The Habsburgs banned all religions other than Catholicism. Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663, taking 12,000 slaves. In 1679–1680 the Czech lands faced a devastating plague and an uprising of serfs.

The reigns of Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and co-regent from 1765, were characterized byenlightened absolutism. In 1742, most of Silesia, then the possession of the Bohemian crown, was seized by King Frederick II of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession. The Great Famine, which lasted from 1770 until 1771, killed about one tenth of the Czech population, or 250,000 inhabitants, The Czech Republic became a member of the European and radicalized countrysides leading to Union in 2004, signed theLisbon Treaty in 2007 and peasant uprisings. ratified it in 2009 as the last EU member.

After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia became part of the Austrian Empire and later of Austria–Hungary. Serfdom was not completely abolished until 1848. After the Revolutions of 1848, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria instituted an absolute monarch in an effort to balance competing ethnic interests in the empire.

Czechoslovakia:

Czech volunteers formed the Czechoslovak Legions in France, Italy and Russia, where they fought against the Central Powers and the latter later against Bolshevik troops. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia was created in 1918. This new country incorporated the Bohemian Crown(Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) and parts of the Kingdom of Hungary (Slovakia and the Carpathian Ruthenia) with significant German, Hungarian, Polish and Ruthenian speaking minorities.

Although Czechoslovakia was a unitary state, it provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities and remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period. The effects of the Great Depression including high unemployment and massive propaganda from Nazi Germany, however, resulted in discontent and strong support among ethnic Germans for a break from Czechoslovakia. Adolf Hitler took advantage of this opportunity and, using Konrad Henlein's separatist Sudeten German Party, gained the largely German speaking Sudetenland(and its substantial Maginot Line like border fortifications) through the 1938 Munich Agreement(signed by Nazi Germany, France, Britain and Italy), despite the mobilization of 1.2 million-strong Czechoslovak army and the Franco-Czech military alliance. Poland annexed the Zaolzie area around Český Těšín. Hungary gained parts of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus as a result of the First Vienna Award in November 1938.

The remainders of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus gained greater autonomy, with the state renamed to "CzechoSlovakia". After Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia, allowing the remaining regions to be partitioned

by Hungary and Poland, Slovakia chose to maintain its national and territorial integrity, seceding from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939, and allying itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition.

The remaining Czech territory was occupied by Germany, which transformed it into the so-calledProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and the president and prime minister were subordinate to the Nazi Reichsprotektor ("imperial protector"). Subcarpathian Rus declared independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine on 15 March 1939 but was invaded by Hungary the same day and formally annexed the next day. Approximately 345,000 Czechoslovak citizens, including 277,000 Jews, were killed or executed while hundreds of thousands of others were sent to prisons and concentration camps or used as forced labour. Perhaps two– thirds of the Czech nation was destined either for extermination or removal. A Nazi concentration camp existed at Terezín, north of Prague.

There was Czech resistance to Nazi occupation, both at home and abroad, most notably with the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in a Prague suburb on 27 May 1942. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its army fighting against the Germans were acknowledged by the Allies; Czech/Czechoslovak troops fought from the very beginning of the war in Poland, France, the UK, North Africa, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising. An estimated 140,000 Soviet soldiers died in conquering Czechoslovakia from German rule.

In 1945–1946, almost the entire German minority in Czechoslovakia, about 3 million people, were expelled to Germany and Austria. During this time, thousands of Germans were held in prisons and detention camps or used as forced labour. In the summer of 1945, there were several massacres. The only Germans not expelled were some 250,000 who had been active in the resistance against the Nazis or were considered economically important, though many of these emigrated later. Following a Soviet-organised referendum, the Subcarpathian Rus never returned under Czechoslovak rule but became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast in 1946.

Czechoslovakia uneasily tried to play the role of a "bridge" between the West and East. However, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia rapidly increased in popularity, with a general disillusionment with the West, because of the prewar Munich Agreement, and a favourable popular attitude towards the Soviet Union, because of the Soviets' role in liberating Czechoslovakia from German rule. In the 1946 elections, the Communists gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament. They formed a coalition government with other parties of the National Front and moved quickly to consolidate power. The decisive step took place in February 1948, during a series of events characterized by Communists as a "revolution" and by anti-Communists as a "takeover", the Communist People's Militias secured control of key locations in Prague, and a new all-Communist government was formed.

For the next 41 years, Czechoslovakia was a Communist state within the Eastern Bloc. This period is characterized by lagging behind the West in almost every aspect of social and economic development. The country's GDP per capita fell from the level of neighboring Austria below that of Greece or Portugal in the 1980s. The Communist government completely nationalized the means of production and established a command economy. The economy grew rapidly during the 1950s but slowed down in the 1960s and 1970s and stagnated in the 1980s. The political climate was highly repressive during the 1950s, including numerous show trials and hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, but became more open and tolerant in the late 1960s, culminating in Alexander Dubček's leadership in the 1968 Prague Spring, which tried to create "socialism with a human face" and perhaps even introduce political pluralism. This was forcibly ended by 21 August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion.

The invasion was followed by a harsh program of "Normalization" in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Until 1989, the political establishment relied on censorship of the opposition. Dissidents published Charter 77 in 1977, and the first of a new wave of protests were seen in 1988. Between 1948 and 1989 more than 250,000 Czechs and Slovaks were sent to prison for "anti-state activities" and over 400,000 emigrated.

Velvet revolution and independence:

In November 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to a liberal democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution". However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened and on 1 January 1993, the country peacefully split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatisations, with the intention of creating a capitalist economy. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognised by the World Bank as a "developed country", and in 2009 the Human Development Index ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development".

From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and now in its own right, has been a member of the Visegrád Group and from 1995, the OECD. The Czech Republic joined NATO on 12 March 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. It held the Presidency of the European Union for the first half of 2009.

The Hungarian Government announces a new set of fiscal measures

HUNGARY It is Hungary’s interest to have strong Hungarian nationality representation (Online 18 O c t ) Péter Szijjártó, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations, declared n i Bucharest that Hunis gary committed Photo: Tibor Illyés, MTI to the supthe European People’s port of Hungarian com- Party. munities in Transylvania, Prime Minister Viktor and it is its interest to Orbán met with Michael have a strong nationality Spindelegger, Austrian in Minister of Foreign Afrepresentation Bucharest. fairs and Vice-ChancelAccording to the State lor. According to State Secretary, the Demo- Secretary Péter Szicratic Alliance Hungari- jjártó, the excellent relaans in Romanian is tions between the two strong enough to maintain the Hungarian nationality representation in the Parliament of Romania.

He added that the Hungarian government is aware Photo: Barna Burger of its responsibility and remains countries creates opporcommitted to supporting tunities to open new borthe case of strong na- der crossing points that tionality representation ease the lives of those and Hungarian national who are settled next to communities living in the borders and facilitate Transylvania. the development of the Prime Minister Viktor interrelated economic Orbán participated at the regions. leadership conference of Referring to the meeting the centre-right parties’ between Viktor Orbán in and Finnish Prime Minisorganization Bucharest as the Vice ter Jyrki Katainen, the President of the Euro- State Secretary said that pean People’s Party: on the bilateral relations are this occasion the Prime excellent and in addition Minister held bilateral to reviewing relations talks with the leaders of the challenges faced by

the Europ e a n Union w e r e also discussed.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a held speech the at confere n c e about the perspectives of the European Union. He claimed that the economic crisis cannot be handled with those measures that have triggered it, so new meashave to be ures advocated. He outlined that „We need more Europe, allowing member states to choose their own economic policies for effective crisis handling.

The Europ e a n People’s Party has to turn to impoverished and middle class families. The powers centre-right have to shape politics as the parties of real people’s in order to confirm to everyone that democracy is also the only solution for their own problems. We must increase economic competitiveness and social stability simultaneously.”

He also added that agreement with the IMF and European Union is very close, however Hungary needs only a precautionary credit.

Budapest could be a regional centre for the European Patent Court (Online 18 Oct) Ministers from Central Europe are holding a two-day summit in Veszprém, Hungary. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Administration Justice Tibor and Navracsics said that Budapest would be wellplaced to compete for the role of a regional centre for the European Patent Court, if partner countries also agree.

Also taking part in the Veszprém summit are: Slovak Justice Minister Tomáš Borec, Croatian Justice Minister Orsat Miljenić, Czech State Secretary for Justice Daniel Volak, Slovenian State Secretary for Justice Helmut Hartman, and Polish Deputy State Secretary for Justice Wojciech Węgrzyn. Last year saw the first meeting of Central European

justice ministers, with Croatia and Slovenia augmenting the traditional group from the ‘Visegrád 4’ countries.

This is the fourth occasion since then that Central European justice ministers have met in this format, primarily to discuss matters offering opportunities for cooperation within the European Union.

Among the items on the agenda for the present meeting are justice reforms in the participating countries, for example the question of heads of the judiciary and the distinction between adverand sarial pronon-adversarial ceedings.

Mr. Navracsics said that in the near future the granting of patents across Europe will be unified, and a European-

level court to rule on legal issues related to this will be created in London, Paris and Munich. There will be the possibility for Member States to create regional divisions, however, to promote the simpler handling of procedures.

A working group has examined the advantages and disadvantages of such a division and its report is being disnow in cussed Budapest Veszprém. has already gained the right to be the headquarters of the European Patent Court’s training centre, and for this reason the Deputy Prime Minister said that ‘We think – if the other countries agree with the creation of such a regional division – that Budapest would be well-placed to apply to be its centre.’

Gov e r nm e nt f a ir t o f a c ilit a t e y oung pe ople ’s c a r e e r c hoic e s (Online 17 Oct) A Government Career Fair under the title ReGeneration will be held once again on Saturday, 27 October, in Budapest.

The event, which is now a tradition, was initiated

by Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics two years ago, and is organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice for the third time this year.

The purpose of the fair is to introduce jobs and career opportunities in public service, government and public administration to young people. This year, too, the ministries and their support institutions will present themselves at the event, and there will also be stage discussions. The fair is a good opportunity for schoolleavers and young people about to embark on a career to pose the questions they are interested in to public administration workers or even the attending state leaders in person.

The representatives of ministries, the offices of state secretaries and the institutions supporting the Government’s work will await young people at sixty-two exhibition stands at this year’s event. Visitors to the event may gain an insight into the day-to-day work of the well-known

and less well-known government agencies and offices. True to traditions, the fair will, on this occasion, be a generation-specific conference; there will be stage discussions covering a wide range of issues, including some inside information from behind the scenes of public administration, the National Public Service University, family policy and the opportunities of talented young people.

The ReGeneration programme has played a key role in achieving that an increasingly large number of young people now consider public administration as a possible career choice. The initiator of the programme, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics stressed at the time when the programme was first launched that the renewal and rejuvenation of public administration requires highly-qualified, dynamic young people who are dedicated to their country. The Government has therefore made a conscious effort to open up new career options for young people as part of its human resources policy in public administration. The Ministry of Public Administration and Justice held a Gov-

ernment Career Fair in the autumn of 2010 for the first time since the change of regime; the event was attended by some 8,000 young people already in its first year and was a great success in 2011 as well.

As a result, the initiative, which was initially seen as a unique event, has a good chance of turning into a tradition. The Hungarian Public Administration Scholarship Programme, which also serves to involve young people in larger numbers, was launched two years ago. Thanks to this, some five hundred young people have to date been given the opportunity to serves as interns in public administration in Hungary and abroad. The Ministry also organises a Public Administration Open Day and ReGeneration camp every year which are highly popular and attendance requests regularly outnumber the available spaces several times over. The National Public Service University commenced its first academic year in September. This institution will serve as the primary base for public service worker succession and professional on-the-job training.

H unga r y a ppr e c ia t e s t he wor k of R e d C r os s a nd R e d C r e s c e nt (Online 19 Oct) Hungary highly appreciates efforts by the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies that seek to help all in need without any discrimination, Péter Sztáray, Deputy State Secretary for Security Policy, said in Budapest on Thursday.

The Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed an international conference focussing on forced migration and deportation. The event marked the fifth anniversary of the opening in Budapest of the European office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red

Crescent Societies (IFRC). IFRC assists all victims of armed conflicts and natural disasters, irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, origin, religion and political affiliation, Sztáray said, adding that governments should closely cooperate with humanitarian organisations. Sztáray noted that Hungary provided 80,000 euros for helping Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and 15,000 dollars for a project aimed to defend women's rights in a refugee camp in northern Kenya.

IFRC Deputy State Secretary Jagan Chapagain

said that on global scale 73 million people are estimated to have left their homeland involuntarily.

Of them, 43 million had to leave because of armed conflicts, for instance in Mali, Colombia, Liberia, Syria, Iraq and Somalia. Another 15 million were forced to leave their homes by natural disasters, including people in Haiti, Japan, Bangladesh and Vietnam, he said. Fifteen million were forced to migrate because of large development projects, for instance dam construction, Chapagain said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received FM Martonyi in Washington (Online 19 Oct) Foreign Minister J á n o s Martonyi held talks with Secretary of S t a t e Hillary Clinton in Washington on October 18. Prior to the Photo: MTI meeting the US Secretary of State said that they would touch upon global issues in addition to discussing bilateral relations.

She stated that the talks would focus on deepening and broadening bilateral cooperation and referred to the upcoming anniversary of Hungary's anti-Soviet uprising in 1956, adding that

she greatly appreciated Hungarians' love of freedom.

At the meeting, Minister Martonyi thanked the US for a friendly dialogue and recent advice from the US government to Hungary. He also pointed out that Hungary would celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic ties with the US this year.

Following the meeting

the Hungarian Foreign Minister attended a roundtable discussion hosted by the Atl a n t i c Council, a Washington-based think tank.

According to plans, he will also give a speech at a meeting hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on October 19.

He will be meeting representatives of the Hungarian American community, and will inaugurate Daniel Hughes as the new honorary consul for Hungary in New Orleans at a ceremonial event.

Righteous among the nations awards and Hungarian courage honours (Online 19 Oct) "Everyone should work towards ensuring that people will never be excluded, abused or killed based on their origin or religion", said Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér at the award ceremony during which Ambassador of Israel to Hungary Ilan Mor presented the Jerusalem-based Yad Vashem Institute’s "Righteous among the Nations" awards, and Minister Pintér the Hungarian "For Courage" Honours.

The Righteous among the Nations honour is granted to people who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis. The honour has so far been awarded to 791 Hungarians. On Thursday, 11 Hungarians were given the title posthumously, accepted by relatives of the deceased. The awards of those who have no living relatives will be transferred to the care of the Yad Vashem Institute. The Hungarian For Courage Honours are grated for courageous civic duty and for several years it has been issued together with the Righteous among the Nations award.

Prime Minister Viktor

Orbán’s letter was read out by Ambassador Ilan Mor, in which the Prime Minister wrote that the Hungarian nation suffered a severe loss through the deaths during the Holocaust, adding that the deeds of those who saved lives is a source of pride to all of us. The letter states that the Hungarian Government will cooperate with Israel in the future regarding this serious issue and will stay deeply committed to the memory of the Holocaust, which will be a priority in the Government’s political agenda.

In his speech, Ambassador Mor said that ignorance was the main cause that enabled the Shoa to happen, during which humanity showed its worst face. He emphasised that the media has a large responsibility in making the issues of ignorance and antiSemitism part of the public debate in order to strengthen the democratic values of Hungarian society.

Minister Pintér drew attention to the fact that firm action needs to be taken against efforts that threaten the democratic society, human rights and liberties. We have to prevent extremist and exclusionary behaviour

since it poses a danger, even nowadays – he added.

The Minister emphasized: hatred, anti-Semitism and racism are always poisonous and unacceptable. If we admit that and act accordingly, then we have a chance and will be able to find the common moral ground upon which we can build or lives, our country and our future. He expressed his hope that irrational and inhumane hatred will never return to Hungary and that exclusionary views, according to which people can be persecuted due to their origin, religion or ethnicity will never spread again.

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg contributed to saving the lives of more than 200 thousand Jews in 1944 by issuing protective passports and establishing safe houses. His example was followed by many others: diplomats, religious and secular people – noted Minister Pintér. Since the diplomat was born 100 years ago, the Hungarian government has decided to declare year 2012 the Wallenberg Year – he added.

Gross average wages increased in August by 6.6 percent in the private sector (Online 18 Oct) In August 2 0 1 2 gross ave r a g e wages in the private sector were up by 6.6 percent, while net wages excluding family tax a l lowances increased by 3.6 percent in comparison to the same period of the previous year – the statistical release of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported earlier today.

Employees in the financial and insurance sectors have continued to be top earners followed by information and communication as well as energy industry sectors.

Wages were the lowest in the hotel trade and catering sectors.

Average gross wages of

full-time employees was 214 700HUF in August 2012 in the national economy, which corresponds to an increase of 3.8 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Net wages – which equaled 138 700HUF – were higher by 1.1 percent compared to August 2011, which figure, however, does not take into consideration the positive impact of family tax allowances for children. The change in net wages, which is more

m u t e d compared to the dynamic increase of last year, has been largely the consequence of t h e greater weight of public employm e n t schemes.

Gross average wages of private sector employees amounted to 225 500HUF, while after an increase of 3.6 percent net wages were 145 400HUF. Gross monthly wages for those employed full-time at budgetary institutions – excluding public work employees – was up by 3.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, and thus they amount to 208 300HUF, while net wages are 135 200HUF after rising 2 percent.

Minister Matolcsy met with Austrian and Bavarian Finance Ministers in Vienna (Online 18 Oct) At the invitation of Finance Minister of Austria Maria Fekter, on 18 October 2012 Minister for National Economy György Matolcsy met with

Finance Minister of Bavaria Markus Söder in Vienna.

The key objective of the meeting was to further strengthen relations between the two countries

and the province of Bavaria and to define the cornerstones of future economic cooperation.

(Online 17 Oct) Although the Hungarian Governm e n t , along with leading financial analysts, forecasted that the fiscal adjustment measures a n n o u n c e d Photo: Gergely Botár earlier in that the EDP against October would be suffi- Hungary be closed at cient to meet the 2013 the earliest opportunity budget targets, the Gov- and has therefore deernment has decided to cided to propose further those steps with a view to complement measures with a further complying with the expackage pectations of the Euroadjustment worth 367 billion forints pean Union.

(EUR 1.3bn) in 2013, Recently announced thus avoiding any new measures include dousteps in Exthe cessive Deficit Proced u r e against the country, Econo m y Minister György Matolcsy a told p r e s s conference on Photo: Gergely Botár 17 October. bling the financial transThe European Commis- actions tax, adding sion indicated in its Oc- revenue of 130 billion tober letter that it can forints as well as keepaccept only two-thirds of ing the bank levy unpreviously an- changed, resulting in the nounced fiscal adjust- additional revenue of 72 ment measures and billion forints. Furtherforecasts the more, local business tax thus budget deficit next year rules will be changed, to come within the range generating 35 billion of 3.7 and 3.9 percent of forints and the governgross domestic product. ment will introduce a utilAlthough the Govern- ities tax that will ment does not agree generate 30 billion with these figures, fail- forints more in budget ure to keep the deficit revenue. below 3% would imply International financial moving to the next stage analysts (Raiffeisen of the Excessive Deficit Bank, Erste Group Bank Procedure (EDP) and AG) have generally welthe freezing of Hungar- comed the declaration, ian cohesion funds. The stressing that the envisHungarian Government aged measures would is, however, determined be more than enough to

ensure the shortfall stays below 3 per cent of economic output, thus ensuring the closure of the Excessive Deficit Proced u r e against Hungary. According to some estimates, next year’s deficit might as well drop to 2% of GDP. Earlier this month, the government already unveiled a fiscal adjustment package worth 397 billion forints for next year in a bid to meet deficit targ e t s , which had met with a truly posiretive sponse in the markets, with the Hungarian currency jumping by around 1 percent.

Furthermore, the move to scrap the transactions tax on the central bank was seen by analysts as the removal of a major obstacle to the successful outcome of talks with international lenders.

The Economy Minister said the Government trusted that the International Monetary Fund and the European Union would provide a positive assessment with regard to Hungary’s efforts to carry out a sustained fiscal consolidation. The European Commission is scheduled to publish its country-specific autumn budget forecast on November 7.

D e put y St a t e Se c r e t a r y Ge r ge ly Pr őhle in St oc k holm (Online 19 Oct) Gergely Prőhle, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, paid a visit in Stockholm on October 17 and 18. In the course of his visit Deputy State Secretary Prőhle had meetings with Members of Parliament, members of the Venice Commission, and journalists.

At the Hungarian Ambassador’s Residence he gave a briefing about the latest political devel-

opments in Hungary, about cooperation with the Venice Commission and the situation of the Roma minority.

Deputy State Secretary Prőhle took part in a conference entitled „Raoul Wallenberg: Symbol or Mystery?”, hosted by the Living History Forum and the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. At the event

he spoke about the Wallenberg Year in Hungary, underlining the educational events targeted at the young generations.

He extolled Wallenberg’s humanitarian efforts in the midst of an inhuman world war. At the conference the Deputy State Secretary also held talks on bilateral issues with Political Director of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Björn Lyrvall.

(Online 19 Oct) "When it comes to issues of great importance, there is no such thing as a small nation", Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi said at Thursday night’s gala dinner in the United States Institute of Peace commemorating the 56th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

The Foreign Minister was 12 years old at the time of the revolution.

He recalled his personal memories as to the pasfreedom sionate speeches and also the terrible shock that the November 4 Soviet intervention had caused.

He thanked the martyrs of the revolution for having fought for freedom, a cause achieved only long after the revolution, and he also expressed his gratitude to the

United States, which allowed thousands of Hungarian refugees settle on her soil.

The exemplary 1956 Hungarian Revolution marked the beginning of a tyranny’s decline, Republican Deputy Mario Diaz-Balart told attendees of the event. He praised Viktor Orbán and Hungary for showing solidarity with those people who are still fighting for freedom.

Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. Secretary of Defence, said the Hungarian fight for freedom was proof that humans had been born to be free.

George Pataki, former Republican governor of New York State, who is of Hungarian descent, stressed that even though Hungary's 1956 revolution had been sup-

pressed, it had an enormous effect all around the world. The Hungarian revolution influenced former US President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, who all played a role in overthrowing communism years later, he added.

Hungary was the first nation to offer financial support of one million dollars for the construction of a Global Museum of Communism in Washington, historian and chairman of the Victims on Communism Memorial Foundation Lee Edwards told the dinner’s participants, also expressing his thanks to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for Hungary's financial contribution.

Or bá n m e t wit h his c ount e r pa r t s in t he V4 c oope r a t ion (Online 19 on the O c t ) Council of P r i m e the EuroMinister p e a n Viktor Union in O r b á n Brussels, with Petr a f t e r N e č a s which he Czech, stated that Donald e v e n Tusk Polthough ish and Hungary Robert is not a Fico Slomember vakian of the EuP r i m e rozone, it Ministers Photo: Tibor Illyés (MTI) is in the prior to a country’s The Hungarian Prime V4 meeting in Brussels Minister also participated interest that their probon 18 October. lems be resolved.

Comprehensive support to fight poverty (Online 17 O c t ) Va r i o u s programs h a v e b e e n launched during the last two years of governm e n t measures aimed at building an econo m y Photo: Csaba Pelsőczy based on stances including the work and reducing „Special School” (Tanpoverty. oda) program and the Breaking out of poverty „Second Chance” (Máis only possible through sodik esély) program, work and learning, that is within the framework of why the government is the New Széchenyi Plan. investing 132 billion HUF to implement the public work program for those who are unable to find a job or have been out of work for a longer p e r i o d . Photo: Csaba Pelsőczy The government has set aside Regarding these promore than 222 billion grams, 11.5 billion HUF HUF for the purposes of is available for the supsubsidizing lowest in- port of children living in come groups of people disadvantaged circumand is also subsidizing stances. A further 80 bilprimarily the families with lion HUF is provided by children with more than the „Útravaló” scholar980 billion HUF in order ship program, dedicated to impede their impover- to supporting students in ishment. higher education.

In 2011, the government In addition, those most in launched the „Farm De- need are supported velopment Program” in through various governorder to restore roads, ment schemes by more facilitate the transport of than 700 billion HUF farm commodities to the each year. Disadvanmarket, increase live- taged local inhabitants stock numbers and de- may claim firewood at a velop or modernize very low price from the farms. Several programs local government. The contribute to the inclu- government has oversion of children living in hauled the system of gas disadvantaged circum- and district heating and

support may be claimed for various heating systems including oil and electricity.

In supporting s t r e e t services for homeless people, the government has spent more than 8.2 billion HUF to supply homeless people. This has been realized on various levels by providing governmental support for homeless shelters, temporary shelters, and rehabilitation institutions.

The government launched a home protection action plan to prevent thousands of families from becoming homeless through various measures including fixing exchange rates, subsidizing interest payments and the establishment of the National Asset Management Office.

We could also mention the fact that more than a hundred thousand people benefited from social holidays due to the program, Erzsébet around two hundred thousand children participated in the „School Milk” (Iskolatej) program, and almost two thousand schools have been included in the „Fruit program”.

D e put y Supr e m e A llie d C om m a nde r Eur ope is s t a y ing in H unga r y Gala Dinner in Washington DC commemo(Online 17 Oct) After Defence in the morning, country and promoting rates 1956 Hungarian Revolution the withdrawal from Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff its democratization –

Hungary's representative plants tree at U.N. biodiversity conference (Online 18 the comO c t ) plex is to Deputy increase State Secawareretary of ness of the Minthe imistry of portance Rural Deof the velopment preservaKatalin tion of Tóth repbiodiverresented sity, inHungary cluding a n d the geplanted a netic retree at the sources U.N. Con- Photo: Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development of livevention on s t o c k of the convention's obBiological Diversity in jectives at both a re- and crops that provide Hyderabad, where par- gional and local level food. According to plans, ticipants from over 170 through various con- the biodiversity centre countries met at the crete drives and meas- will also be home to a summit of the organisa- ures. gene bank for the tion's decision-making The conference, aimed preservation of aubody. animal at preserving biodiver- tochthonous The planting of the tree sity and at which Hun- species. signifies that, similarly to gary is also taking part, The inauguration of the the other participating is being held in India be- new complex provided nations, Hungary has tween 8-19 October. an opportunity for the joined the initiative de- Ministers and high-rank- establishment of a colsigned to draw attention ing officials from the par- lection of tree species, of to the importance of pre- ticipating countries will which every participating serving nature and of in- also attend the discus- nation received a tree. ternational cooperation. sions between 17-19 The trees were planted With reference to the October. by the high-level officials tree planting, the State At the opening of the attending the conferSecretary stressed that high-level section of the ence, thus symbolising the preservation of biodi- conference, Prime Min- the role of global coopversity may only be suc- ister of India Dr. Manmo- eration in the preservacessful if all the world's han Singh inaugurated a tion of biodiversity. nations are involved and so-called Biodiversity facilitate the realisation Complex. The goal of

The Government still intends to reach an agreement with the IMF and EU (Online 17 Oct) The intention of the Hungarian government is unchanged: this is the message that Mihály Varga, Minister without portfolio responsible for liaising with certain international financial organisations, stressed at an economic forum in Budapest organised by the portfolio.hu web portal.

As previously stated in November 2011, the Government would like to reach an agreement with both the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

According to Mr. Varga, the Hungarian economic situation has undoubtedly improved in recent months, but the country is still far from that ideal state in which it can renounce external support.

In a presentation entitled ‘The prospects of the Hungarian economy – evaluation of current issues,’ the minister said that international credi-

tors are still assessing the negotiation proposals of the Hungarian government, which is confident that an agreement can be reached not too long after negotiations.

Mr. Varga mentioned that among the benefits of a financial safety net was the fact that the market had started pricing in an agreement, and he also said that credit default swaps on Hungarian sovereign debt had decreased from 720 basis points in January to below 300 today. He added that with the agreement Hungary will have a programme that guarantees much tighter public finances.

According to the minister, the Hungarian economy is only now ready to reach its potential, as its performance was hampered by borrowing and increasing public debt in past years. If these factors are set aside, then even in the years prior to

the crisis the general trend was stagnation with fluctuations.

He stressed the necessity to find partners to generate and improve growth, identifying decreasing potential growth as one of the greatest problems in recent years.

With regard to government debt, the minister said that he sees the decreased debt-to-GDP ratio as one of the best achievements in recent years. The country is among those EU Member States that are taking steps to reduce their budget deficits. ’We can improve our structural deficit, and that has positive consequences,’ he said.

He said that 2013 would be a very important year, since there would be no room for a high budget deficit, and he made it clear that Hungary cannot afford to slip back to the level from which it has taken so much effort to emerge.

Visegrád countries and Slovenia adopted a joint declaration on the future of cohesion policy (Online 16 Oct) Ministers of the Visegrád countries and Slovenia responsible for European integration and for cohesion policy adopted a joint declaration on the package of legislations dealing with the future of cohesion policy on 1112th October 2012 in Katowice, Poland. Following the meeting, Enikő Győri, Minister of State for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Visegrád countries and Slovenia together constitute a substantial force.

Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia wish to develop an agreement, which also respects national and regional interests – said Minister of State Győri, who represented Hungary at the session. According to the Minister of State, this can only be achieved through continuous consultation. To prove her

point, she highlighted that “parts of the package, which have been agreed on, already reflect the cooperation of the Visegrád countries”.

According to Minister of State Győri, the main message of the meeting is that the V4 countries and Slovenia “are partners when it comes to spending the funds, defined until 2020, very efficiently and according to the EU objectives”.

Everyone has to concentrate on crisis management, on promoting growth and job creation.

Concerning the EU debate in reducing the amount of cohesion funds, the Minister of State underlined that the Visegrád countries and Slovenia would not like if the “better spending” would mean less spending.

At the same time, the five countries consider it important that “Member States should be given a free hand in both plan-

ning and implementation” because everyone knows their own individual needs the best. In this respect, the statement also discusses the issue of the central regions, which require special regulations because of the special character.

Minister of State Győri highlighted that among others, the meeting also discussed the rate of cofinancing, the part of the projects financed by the EU, which is extremely important, when it comes to cohesion policy.Currently the beneficiary countries are only covering 15% of the costs and according to the participants of the extended V4 meeting, they are unable to assume a larger burden during the economic crisis, while there is a very strong trend in the EU in favour of reducing the its co-financing rate.

Afghanistan, NATO may continue to be the effective means of successfully tackling the currently transforming security challenges, Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff, NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) said in his presentation delivered at the National University of Public Service.

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő received Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff with military honors in Heroes Square, Budapest on October 15, following which the guest laid a wreath at the heroes’ memorial.

On October 16, the second day of his stay in Hungary, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe paid a courtesy call to Minister of Defence Csaba Hende and had a closeddoor discussions with Gen. Tibor Benkő.

At the plenary discussion held in the Ministry of

attended presentations on the current state of the Hungarian Defence Forces’ engagement in missions abroad, with special regard to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and the significant changes to occur in it. The topics of the discussion included the practical experience related to the concept of deploying the Hungarian EUFOR over-the-horizon forces and the readiness state of the Hungarian stand-by company as well as the Hungarian standpoint on EUFOR’s future.

In his presentation held at the National University of Public Service, Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff assessed NATO’s present and future. He pointed out that the military and political efforts made by the members of the Alliance so far – which NATO has contributed within the ISAF mission in Afghanistan in the interest of developing the

have now reached a turning point. Reconsideration of the NATO ISAF tasks is already in progress, since NATO expects to be able to hand over all security responsibilities to the Afghan government by 2014, after it has gradually withdrawn its combat troops from the country.

However, this does not mean that the Alliance would turn its back on the country afterwards, because by using the lessons learned so far, the organization has prepared itself for developing a long-running partnership with Afghanistan.

The Deputy Commander Allied Forces Europe also noted that in spite of the existing difficulties, NATO may continue to be the only effective solution and opportunity for giving a successful joint response to the currently transforming security challenges, risks and threats.

The s t a t e m us t pla y a de c is iv e r ole on t he H unga r ia n ga s m a r k e t : Lá z á r (Online 17 Oct) According to Minister of State János Lázár, the Government’s objective is to ensure energy security within the Hungarian natural gas market. At a press briefing, the Minister of State heading the Prime Minister’s Office stated that to his knowledge negotiations have reached an advanced stage with the German energy company E.ON regarding the repurchase of its subsidiary in Hungary, a measure that also serves the strengthening of energy security. Only in this way can gas prices paid by citizens be kept under control and at realistic levels, otherwise gas prices will become disproportionately high in Hungary, he added.

Hungary would become more vulnerable if such a capacity were to fall out of the state’s interest, he

stated, adding that today in Hungary a strategic natural gas storage unit can change owners without the government being able to do anything about it. The proposal, submitted to Parliament

by Minister of State Lázár last week, would grant the state, if it is able, the right to purchase the ownership share. This essential, since 80% of Hungary’s population uses gas heating.

The proposal also suggests that if a company operating such a unit offers its shares for sale, the state would have preemptive rights. If a storage unit is built through non-state investment, then the investor would be obliged to sell it to the state on the day it is put into commission.

In answer to the question if it will be possible to ne-

gotiate with MOL following the repurchase of E.ON’s subsidiary, the Minister of State said that MOL is a commercial company and the Government’s opinion is that the state must play a central role in the gas sector. One of the key issues in coming years will be the long-term gas transport contracts which will expire in 2015, he said.

E.ON purchased majority ownership in MOL’s natural gas business in 2005 for 2.1 billion euros.

In 2011, E.ON’s revenues from the Hungarian natural gas sector reached 1.95 billion euros. The Hungarian Government has obtained an option to repurchase E.ON's stake in the company, which will expire in 2016.

Address by János Martonyi on the ASEAN Awareness Forum (Online 17 Oct) The fact is that in the last two years we had been speaking a lot about the subject you are discussing today. So I do not really want to repeat all these, I think very well-known, developments we frequently refer to. Actually, this is for us a time of crossing.

On the one hand, there have been, there are tremendous changes in the world, in the world economy, in the political situation. We are all aware of that and now of course we all have to adapt in one way or another to these developments.

On the other hand, there is also a change in Hungarian foreign policy, or indeed in the Hungarian mission on the world, because of the twentytwenty two years of essentially internal and all-European development we now want to open up. And that is why we now identify as part of our foreign policy the socalled global opening.

In that framework of the global opening, no doubt, the Eastern dimension plays a predominant role. We say look East, we also have to act East. That is why we organize this awareness forum. That is why we have this business forum today. That is why we have been many things in the last couple of months. I visited the region myself twice and I am now heading for the Vientiane EU-ASIAN summit. And we tried to visit as many countries as we can, and at the same time we tried to give a political push to the trade and economic developments.

We also know that in this country Asia plays a special role. Not only because of those developments I just referred to, but because Hungarians are quite proud of their Asian origin and heritage, it is one of our roots. I think many Asian nations realize that. Wherever we go, we always sense this kind of affinity or sympathy or closeness of minds. So, it is not only trade and investment, and economic advantages or benefits we are searching for in Asia. We

also want to open our minds towards Asia. Asia is not just a five-billionpeople rapidly developing market. It is five billion human beings, who contribute more and more to the global development of all of us. And for us, Hungarians, this is a specific aspect of all that.

I do not want to speak too much about the economic potentials, because you will speak about that yourselves, but clearly the potential we see.

In the EU-ASEAN framework, because let us come now to ASEAN as the main subject after all, which is not five billion people, but only six hundred million people. We often said before that of course Asia as a whole is very important, but ASEAN countries are even more important, at least in one respect, because of their diversity.

There are a lot of commonalities between Europe as a whole and ASEAN countries. On the one hand, you are five hundred million, the EU is six hundred million.

Of course, as integration schemes, European Union is much more advanced, but the objectives and the goals of ASEAN are very similar to the European ones.

There is a lot of exchange of experience and use. And at the same time, as you know, we are now negotiating FTAs, free trade agreements with some of the ASEAN countries. Some of them are well-advanced and at least one of them will really come to an end by the end of this year. These FTAs are considered to be so called stepping stones for a final agreement, that is an agreement between Europe and ASEAN and that would be of course a concrete result of all these separate exercises.

We, Hungarians on our part very much encourage and support these negotiations. We analyzed of course our economic interest, potential benefits and potential challenges or risks, which are possibly involved in some free trade agreements. And the conclusion, the outcome

is that yes, we support this because that is also our interest.

Relations between European Union and ASEAN are now developing.

They are developing fast. At the same time, relations between ASEAN and Hungary are also developing very fast. This is a two-track approach. We encourage both and we also try to do whatever we can to achieve this objective.

Just an example: we did have Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, general secretary of ASEAN this year, at the end of August, at our socalled ambassador’s conference. This is a yearly event. In the last roughly eight-to-ten years we always had a foreign guest, a guest speaker. Up till now this person has always been somebody from Europe, from the European Union. For the first time this year this special guest of the ambassador’s conference was somebody coming from outside Europe. Dr. Pitsuwan made, by the way, an excellent speech.

There was a lively debate or discussion after that speech. This was in itself a testimony to our political message, which is: to strengthen and deepen relations with ASEAN. I would conclude here. I understand that yesterday you had very good speeches, also instructive and interesting debates or discussions after those speeches. I just would like to encourage you to continue it today from a more business-like perspective.

This is the purpose of today’s business forum.

But never forget, again, about the human dimension of this. Trade and investment are extremely important aims, but even more important are the human relations, which are thereby established and strengthened.

Maybe this is our contribution to a safer and better world.

So I thank you very much. I wish you a very successful business forum and as I said I have to apologize for being away from the rest of the forum.

State Secretary Szijjártó announces Oracle Hungary, as an EU Member State welinvestment at joint press conference comes the decision to award the 2012 (Online that the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union 15 Oct) new cen-

(Online 16 Oct) According to the Nobel Committee’s justification, the European Union, during its history of six decades contributed to promoting peace and human rights in Europe, and helped to transform Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.

The Nobel Committee also highlighted, that during its existence, the European Union brought France and Germany closer, while always requiring that countries wishing to join adhere to democratic norms.

The award is recognition for European Union institutions, Member

States, nations constituting the European Union and finally European citizens, among them Hungarians as well.

The award also reminds all of us that peace is the most important achievement of the European integration; it continues to be a valid ideal, which is a precondition and the source of all social and economic development, of real human evolution.

It is possible to also overcome the present economic difficulties if peace prevails.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs agrees with the statement of the Nobel Committee that one should not forget the

achievements, when nowadays the EU has to face serious problems because of the economic crisis.

This award is a message of outstanding significance addressed to all Member States. Winning the Nobel Peace Prize is mainly the success of the cooperation between European nations.

Hungary continues to participate committedly in strengthening the European Union internally and in all its common policies and efforts aimed at promoting international peace and security.

Prime Minister Orbán met with the Speaker of Turkish Parliament (Online 16 O c t ) Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, alongside State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó received C e m i l Photo: Csaba Pelsőczy Cicek the Turkey’s EU accession.

Speaker of the Turkish The two parties agreed Parliament on Tuesday. that the Hungarian-TurkThe Speaker expressed ish joint economic comhis gratitude for Hun- mittee will prepare an gary’s support for

action plan on how to b o o s t e c o nomic relations between the two countries a n d agreed to mutual p r i m e ministerial visits.

During the meeting they emphasised the special importance of cooperation in the energy industry and tourism.

Prime Minister Orbán met with his Serbian counterpart in Budapest (Online 16 Oct) "The Hungarian Government respects Serbs living in Hungary, who form an important and valuable community", Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Friday following a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić in Budapest.

At their meeting, they discussed the possibility of opening new border crossings between the two countries and launched the preparations for a Serbian-Hungarian intergovernmental summit. According to plans, the Serbian-Hungarian Economic Joint Committee will also restart its work in December.

Prime Minister Orbán stated that his government supports and is assisting Serbia’s European inte-

gration, since it is in Hungary’s interest that all its neighbours become part of the European Union.

He added that Serbians in Hungary form an important and valuable community, and are respected by the government, which continues be happy to consider their viewpoints and requests.

Serbian Prime Minister Dačić highlighted that, in part thanks to the decrease in the number of nationality-based conflicts, there is a good relationship between the representatives of Hungarians in Vojvodina and Serbian institutions.

Prime Minister Orbán also spoke about the European Union winning the Nobel Peace Prize, stat-

ing that it shows how peaceful coexistence may be accomplished in territories destroyed by two world wars. This is an acknowledgment for an ideology, he said, as the EU represents the opportunity of establishing a unique cooperation between nations that were previously in conflict with each other, based on common interests alongside national interests. The Hungarian Prime Minister also highlighted that the founders should also be mentioned, since an organisation such as the EU seems natural today, but establishing it required courage and determination, and therefore they are the ones who deserve the prize.

up a developm e n t centre in Hungary and will increase workforce by 10%, S t a t e Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Photo: Tibor Illyés (MTI) External novation.

Economic Relations State Secretary SziPéter Szijjártó an- jjártó underlined that nounced at a press this new development conference on Monday. centre makes it possiOracle's decision con- ble for highly qualified firms that Hungary is a reliable and predictable p a r t n e r, and that the gove r n ment's efforts to create an investorfriendly business environm e n t h a v e Photo: Tibor Illyés (MTI) b e e n Hungarian professionsuccessful, State Sec- als to contribute to a retary Szijjártó said. He recalled that a few weeks ago on his visit to t h e United States he m e t amongst others with the representatives of Oracle.

With this Photo: Tibor Illyés (MTI) decision, better functioning of the he added, the company world economy, since is placing its confidence the databases, IT soluin highly qualified Hun- tions and applications garian IT professionals facilitate the work of and through that in companies which would Hungarian technical hardly be manageable and engineering higher without them. education, as well as Csaba Reményi, the the government’s policy Managing Director of supporting R&D and in- Oracle Hungary, said

tre called Oracle Applications Lab (OAL) will expand the company's activities in Hungary to include an innovative international development function and will start operating this year.

This is the third Oracle unit that has been installed in Hungary by Oracle in the past t w o years, he added, stating that the company w e l comes the fact that engineering and IT training enjoys priority in the government’s education strategy.

The Managing Director stated that since 2007 Oracle has b e e n supporting Hungary’s higher education through its junior program, which includes three universities, 6500 students and a further 12 universities joining recently. Oracle has been present in Hungary since 1993, employs more than 200 people and has 250 partners offering the company’s full portfolio.