Viktor Orbán: “This is a Well-Organized Invasion”

Röszke is a town in southern Hungary, at the border crossing with Serbia. As reported here previously, during the Great Migration Crisis of 2015 a huge mob of migrants attacked the border crossing there (“The Battle of Röszke”). Then last month another organized mob rushed the border at Röszke.

The following video is an excerpt from a press conference on February 13 at which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini spoke.

Notes from the translator:

This press conference took place at the border in Röszke, with official translators translating immediately. As a result, Mr. Orbán speaks in short sentences to help the translator.

The first part of the video is standard diplomatic chit-chat. First Mr. Orbán thanks the Slovakian PM for sending Slovakian police officers to defend the Hungarian border. Then PM Pellegrini thanks the Hungarians for defending the southern border of the EU, thereby defending Slovakia.

Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

11:30   You mentioned that in the last couple of weeks hundreds of attempted
11:34   illegal border crossing occurred, and I would like to ask you,
11:38   concerning those who were captured here, what will happen to them?
11:42   Will they be expelled back to Serbia, or what will happen to them?
11:46   And are there families in among them,
11:50   or are they mostly men? —We had 5,000 attempted illegal crossings.
11:58   The legal system is as follows:
12:02   This border is not closed.
12:06   If someone who wants to enter Hungary
12:10   “knocks” normally at the gate,
12:14   and tells us what he or she wants, we’ll record a report
12:18   and begin a procedure to determine whether they can come in or not.
12:26   For this we would not need police officers and fences.
12:30   That is the law-abiding procedure.
12:34   Those who choose this way
12:38   must wait in the transit zone over there. Until the procedure is finished…
12:46   Until the procedure is finished, they get food and they are taken care of.
12:54   If the result of the process is positive, and they receive refugee status, they can come in.
13:02   If not, then they must leave the transit zone.
13:06   The transit zone is closed in the direction of Hungary;
13:10   towards Serbia it is open.
13:18   If everybody would behave that way, life would be beautiful,
13:22   but the majority do not do this, and instead are choosing
13:26   the illegal way.
13:30   Not following the way of papers and a lawful process, but climbing over or under the fence.
13:38   Lately
13:42   they have been coming in groups and storming the fence.
13:46   But you can see, they are strong enough,
13:50   these structures.
13:54   But this year for the first time it happened that we had to shoot,
13:58   thank God only into the air.
14:02   It was group break-in attempt; we had to
14:06   use firearms.
14:10   Those who enter illegally in some places
14:14   can successfully cross.
14:18   Those are captured by our police officers.
14:22   Very few slip by, but if we detect them,
14:26   and usually we do, we go after them, until they are captured.
14:34   And those who are illegal are immediately
14:38   placed back on the other side of the fence.
14:42   The fence is not on the line of the border,
14:46   but three meters inside Hungary.
14:50   That is to avoid legal disputes later.
14:54   The question included a part about whether mostly men cross over. [male translator]
14:58   We work together with the Serbs.
15:02   We work well together. The Serbs are in a hard situation,
15:06   maybe an even harder situation than we Hungarians are in.
15:10   But we have very appropriate
15:14   cooperation… and together
15:18   we can handle the situation. When you [journalists]
15:22   come here with cameras,
15:26   there are always plenty of children and women.
15:30   But when you are gone, it quickly turns out that 95%
15:34   of the ones who want to storm the fences are military-aged men.
15:46   We also have a heart… we feel sorry for the children,
15:50   and the women… we even understand the situation of the men.
15:54   But the truth is, the woman and children
15:58   are used for the purposes of the media [propaganda].
16:02   The bulk of those who want to cross here
16:06   are MILITARY-AGE men.
16:10   They have the look; they even move like it.
16:14   They leave no doubt that they have a high level of confidence.
16:22   So THIS IS AN INVASION. THIS IS FORBIDDEN TO SAY IN EUROPE.
16:26   But the truth is: this is a WELL-ORGANIZED INVASION.
16:34   Our intelligence service continuously monitors the events.
16:42   We know the phone numbers, we know how they are organizing them.
16:46   Organizations called NGOs, which in reality are partly human-smuggling groups, are behind this.
16:54   They have lots of financing and astonishing logistical abilities.
16:58   Most of the conflicts are not
17:02   with accidentally lost migrants, but with organized groups specifically targeting this border.
17:10   I do not want to align against you,
17:14   the Slovakian public opinion,
17:18   but one can see that the picture painted by the international media
17:22   is simply not true.
17:26   The reality is that 95% of them are organized
17:30   military-age men, in military-style group movements and actions.
17:42   Faced with a few woman and children we would not be afraid and build such a fence.
17:50   But here on the Balkan route there are 100,000 migrants, and of those
17:53   more than 90,000 are military-age men.
18:02   The flowers and stuffed teddy bears are not helpful.
 

3 thoughts on “Viktor Orbán: “This is a Well-Organized Invasion”

  1. Judging by Prime Minister Orban’s words, this is simply a para-military invasion to compromise the sovereignty of his nation which is phase one to future events more lethal.
    Or speaking more diplomatically, problematic, to Hungary’s future.

    My suggestion: Hold the line!

    • Holding the line is a necessary first step to containing the invasion and limiting it’s inroads into Europe. However, victory will require at some point going on the offensive and taking the battle to the enemy. It is good that Orban is holding the line at the Hungarian border, however he is but one man and all his work could be undone surprisingly quickly should he ever fall out of power. Let us hope for the sake of Western civilization this does not occur.

      • Exactly, that’s happened to Salvini also , He try stop this barbaric invasion to His country, and that’s it , Merkel and Conte have good. Conversation , and after that Hi was gone , just like that …

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