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Excellency imga makumbukunam moors stashagiannukitbakoreuratwalainmouratmosag ministerkit.

Confess António Costa as Ibizola vander Norwegia what carat sat. Thisungaki okkinakiriakosa.

And that we jointly sing our national anthem together with the participation of Esther Shomoji soloists of the Hungarian. I hereby grant permission. In Mr. These all I you. She. You each fairly. The court hoki. So. And. And the she ended.

This Mr celebrant, today we commemorate a historic day that took place 70 years ago,

the significance and message of which has not faded with the passage of time.

For on that day something happened that became a defining moment in world history.

On this day in 1956, the hearts of the country beat with a desire for change. Protesters sympathetically.

With the events in Poland gathered in Buddha at the statue of Josef Frey,

which symbolizes Polish Hungarian friendship, and then marched to the Parliament.

The crowd and the excitement grew by the hour.

People raised their horidden flags, which had become a symbol of revolution,

high into the air, expressing the nation's desire for freedom and independence. Everyone felt that the moment had.

When together they could say no to oppression.

It must have been particularly moving when the staff of the Parliament building extinguished the light of the red star which had come to symbolize oppression,

shining atop the dome, thereby encouraging the demonstrators.

In the square, now shrouded in darkness, torches made of newspaper glued. Of hope.

Everyone sensed that something irreversible was in the air.

Later that evening, Prime Minister Imranoi appeared in one of the windows of the Parliament building.

He tried to urge the people to remain calm, but the tension only intensified. In the days that followed.

The Hungarian people took up the fight against the dictatorship.

Men, women, young and old soldiers and civilians fought as one. For a nation's greatest treasure, freedom.

Their courage and their steadfastness will never be forgotten.

Although reprisals inevitably followed after a few days of hope, their sacrifice was not in vain.

It has made the ideal of freedom indelible in the hearts of Hungarians.

Even 70 years later, it still gives us faith that by standing together, anything is possible.

It is capable of uniting us and fulfilling us, the Hungarian people.

With pride, October 23,

1956 became such a powerful symbol of national unity that we can still draw strength from it today.

That is why it is especially important to preserve our national memory, a responsibility that falls on all of us.

Let us pass on the story and message of 1956 to future generations that our freedom is not a gift to be taken for granted.

And that preserving it is our shared cause and responsibility.

We hereby thank the representatives of multiple countries for expressing their respect for the heroic Hungarian revolution through their presence here today,

and that is why the hearts of the world beats here in Budapest today.

We extend our gratitude to all those nations that provided refuge to our compatriots who were forced to leave our homeland 70 years ago.

That is why so many Hungarian hearts are beating today across the world. Today the surely beat has won.

The National Assembly officially enshrined the memory and significance of the 1956 revolution and War of Independence in Act 28 of 1990 and declared October 23 a national holiday.

The law states the Hungarian revolution of the autumn of 1956 laid the foundation.

For the hope that a democratic social order could be established and that no sacrifice made for the independence of the homeland is in vain.

We now live in a time when no one can tell us how to commemorate 1956. That too is part of our freedom. God bless the memory of 1956.

Let us observe a minute of silence in honor of the heroes. Please rise.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, as we continue our commemorative ceremony with the help of period photographs and film clips,

we shall recall the events of the 1956 Revolution and War of Independence. And now may I cordially invite Do.

András Bozóki, President of the Republic, to deliver his ceremonial address.

Thank you, esteemed Prime Minister, I would like to greet members of the Hungarian Government,

members of the Hungarian National Assembly, leaders of the churches.

Representatives of Hungarian communities beyond the borders, members of the diplomatic corps,

and representatives of various state, professional, cultural, social organizations who are present here today.

I'd like to respectfully greet all my fellow countrymen.

Throughout the country in the Carpathian Basin and across the world,

may today's commemoration be a shared celebration for all Hungarians wherever they may be in the world.

I extend a special welcome to our guests from abroad.

Thank you for celebrating and commemorating this momentous anniversary with us.

70 years ago on this very day,

the Hungarian nation passed judgment on a system built on oppression and lies. On 23 October 1956.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to reclaim their freedom, justice, and human dignity.

On that October evening,

the crowd gathered outside the Parliament could not yet have known that they were part of one of the greatest moments in Hungarian history.

They could not have foreseen that barely a week and a half later,

Soviet tanks would set out to crush the revolution and that the days of hope would be followed by long years of repression.

One thing, however, they knew even then they no longer wanted to live in fear with their heads down.

The moral judgment of the revolution was not born from the laws of power, but in opposition to them.

It stemmed from the realization that human dignity takes precedence over all power and that there are rights which no tyranny can take away. On that day.

The Hungarian people did not simply demand change.

They demanded the right to shape their own destiny back.

From the demands of individual people, the will of a nation took shape. And the whole world heard their voice.

My fellow citizens, in the surviving photographs of the revolution,

we can still see the power of that historic moment today, young and old.

Blue collars, intellectuals, civilians, and soldiers whose faces alongside tension and determination also reveals something that so many had been deprived of during the long years of the dictatorship,

the joy of liberation.

The joy of a person who for the first time in a long while,

feels that they could freely express their thoughts and decide their own fate.

In those days, personal hopes and shared goals converged.

Freedom, which until then had seemed an almost unattainable dream, suddenly became a tangible reality.

The days of the revolution were characterized not only by courage but also by extraordinary displays of solidarity.

Food was transported from the countryside to the capital.

Strangers helped one another, cared for the wounded,

and shared whatever news and whatever else they had.

Behind the smashed shop windows, the goods remained untouched in many places.

Just as the money collected to support the revolution was left unguarded where it was, these stories tell us at least as much about 1956 as the images of the barricades and armed combat,

for the greatness of the revolution lay not only in what the Hungarians stood up against, but also in the way they turned towards one another,

a nation that for many years had been subjected to attempts to divide it through fear.

And mistrust once again experienced the power of solidarity for a few days.

Ladies and gentlemen, for me, 1956 is not merely a part of our history.

My earliest childhood memories are also linked to those days.

These memories have stayed with me throughout my life, just as the memory of the revolution lived on in countless Hungarian families,

often even when it was still forbidden to speak about it in public,

a photograph, a story, or the memory of a lost loved one.

Or indeed the silence which sometimes revealed more about the events that had taken place than any words spoken.

The revolution triumphed and then war broke out. At dawn on 4 November.

The Soviet offensive began and the struggle for freedom was crushed by military force.

At the same time, the reprisals began, executions, prison sentences, families torn apart,

hundreds of thousands of Hungarians forced to leave their homeland signaled the tragedy of the years to come.

Those who stayed here at home had to live with fear.

Loss and the suppressed truth for many decades,

it was no longer possible to restore the world that had existed before 23 October 1956.

The struggle for freedom was crushed, but its truth could not be destroyed.

It lived on in the conviction that Hungary must one day be free again.

When decades later, The change of the regime came about.

The memory of 1956 was finally able to take its rightful place in our nation's history.

Distinguished celebrating guests,

today's commemoration takes on a particular significance as leaders from several European countries join us in paying tribute to the heroes of the Hungarian Revolution.

Their presence also reminds us that the significance of 1956 extended far beyond Hungary's borders.

A small nation stood up to a world power and bore witness to values to which every human is entitled,

regardless of where they live, what language they speak, or what beliefs they hold.

The Hungarian Revolution became a universal symbol of freedom.

The world's public opinion followed the Hungarians' struggle closely,

and the moral significance of that defeated struggle for freedom did not fade in the decades that followed.

Helmut Kohl, the former German Chancellor,

also drew attention to the fact that the Hungarian revolution served as a catalyst.

As for the creation of European unity, he recalled that the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which laid the foundations for the European Economic Community,

was ratified by the parliaments of six founding countries by a much larger majority than expected.

The suppression of the Hungarian revolution also reinforced the need for Western European countries to come together.

However, 1956 did not merely influence political decisions.

The Hungarian struggle raised sympathy and willingness to help in many countries around the world.

Countless people felt that the fate of distant Hungary was their concern too.

70 years on, therefore, we Hungarians must also express words of gratitude.

We thank the thousands who demonstrated on our behalf, who collected donations for the revolutionaries,

and who provided assistance and shelter to the refugees.

It is with grateful hearts that we remember all those countries and communities which stood by us and did whatever they could under the historical circumstances of the time.

We thank all those who received the Hungarians fleeing occupation and reprisals.

For many, this assistance meant the chance to start afresh.

For Hungary, it was proof that even after the revolution had been crushed, we were not left alone in the world.

70 years on,

Europe is once again facing challenges that are putting solidarity between nations to the test.

The lessons of the past remind us that peace,

freedom and respect for human dignity cannot be taken for granted once and for all.

Preserving them is the shared responsibility of the nations of Europe.

Esteemed fellow compatriots, 70 years ago the Hungarian people came together in a shared desire for freedom.

In recent years, however, our public life has been characterized by ever deepening divisions.

Today we are not only unable to agree on our common goals, but also on how we look at our own history,

what we consider to be just, and what sort of a country we wish to leave to future generations.

Political debates are a natural part of freedom.

Democracy does not require us all to think alike.

We cannot at the same time accept that political affiliation should determine whom we regard as fellow citizens,

nor can we accept that our shared history, our national holidays,

and our most important values should become tools in our struggles against each other.

The homeland cannot be the exclusive property of a single political community.

It is not a reward for those who agree with us, nor can it be denied from those who think differently.

As president of the republic, I am aware that I too have a special responsibility in this regard.

For me, this mandate means above all that I must serve the unity of the nation even.

When the voices of division are at their loudest in public life.

I ask all those whose words and decisions have an impact on the life of our country to bear to assume their own responsibility in this sense.

Restoring national unity cannot be achieved with a single speech.

It requires action, consistency, mutual respect and, above all,

good faith, but we must start somewhere.

And few occasions can be more fitting to do this than the 70th anniversary of 1956. Esteemed ladies and gentlemen.

Yesterday At the Reformed College in Debre,

we commemorated the revolution with students during an unconventional extraordinary history lesson.

We discussed what a historical event that took place 70 years ago means to them.

This discussion reinforced my belief that it is not simply enough to preserve the legacy of 1956. We must pass it on.

Young people must not only know what happened in 1956, they must also understand why so many decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and what freedom,

courage, and responsibility towards one another mean to them today.

Remembrance fills its true purpose when we are able to learn from the experiences of the past for the sake of the future. Esteemed fellow citizens in 1956.

There was a moment of grace in the life of the nation.

No one was cast out from the crowd, yet the crowd was by no means uniform. It was diverse. It was colorful.

Even today we speak such a great deal about acceptance and unity, but do we truly live by these tenets?

Because I believe that if words have a true meaning, if there is justice, if there is solidarity, if there is an inner peace,

if there is a state that protects you, a society that supports,

and communities that are able and willing to cooperate, then we will find a way to come together.

Where there is no stigmatization, no humiliation, no lawlessness, no tyranny. There we will find a true homeland.

We have plenty of examples before us, the fates of thousands of Hungarians, thousands of brave Hungarian souls.

It is fitting that even after 70 years we should follow them. Thank you for your kind attention. Thank you, Mr.

President, for your kind words and now may I invite Ms von der Leyen,

President of the European Commission to deliver her commemorative address.