Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday that his country did not want to accept Muslim refugees, as he defended his tough approach to border control on the frontline of Europe's migration crisis.
Orban spoke in Brussels at meetings between European Union leaders and Hungary's prime minister after images of a drowned Syrian child on a Turkish beach grabbed world attention this week and said that it was not a moral argument for opening Europe's doors.
"If we would create ... an impression that 'just come because we are ready to accept everybody,' that would be a moral failure. The moral, human thing is to make clear: 'Please don't come,'" Orban told reporters.
In a later news conference, Orban said the history of Ottoman rule meant Hungarians would not accept large-scale Muslim immigration, a point made recently by neighboring Slovakia.
"We don't want to, and I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country," Orban said. "We do not like the consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries, and I do not see any reason for anyone else to force us to create ways of living together in Hungary that we do not want to see. That is a historical experience for us." » | Al Jazeera and wire services | Thursday, September 3, 2015
THE LOCAL (DE): Orban: Muslims threaten European identity: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned Thursday that the wave of mostly Muslim refugees coming to Europe threatens to undermine the continent's Christian roots - an idea rejected by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. » | AFP | Friday, September 4, 2015
THE WASHINGTON POST: Muslims threaten Europe’s Christian identity, Hungary’s leader says: Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, has made nationalistic and controversial statements in the past. But with his country emerging as a main gateway for refugees trying to reach richer European nations, his words suddenly carry much heavier weight. » | Rick Noack | Thursday, September 3, 2015
