Hungary has a principled and consistent position concerning the crisis in Syria. We have made it clear that the Assad regime has lost its legitimacy to govern Syria because it has waged a war against its own people without any scruples.

However, the attack with chemical weapons carried out on August 21 implied the crossing of a red line even if the current bloodshed has caused a hundred thousand casualties so far. There is an increasing amount of evidence that points towards the responsibility of the Assad regime in carrying out the horrific attack. The international community cannot remain idle with respect to this brutal act that killed one and a half thousand people; a clear and definite response is necessary. The international community must make it plain that the deployment of chemical weapons is unacceptable and that it is ready to prevent similar attacks in order to protect human life.

Hungary is awaiting the results of the investigation conducted by UN inspectors concerning the chemical attack. It is imperative that the UN Security Council reach a consensus on this matter and take the appropriate steps in order to prevent such incidents occurring again in the future.

Both the joint declaration of the EU Foreign Ministers adopted on September 7 and the declaration adopted a day earlier at the G-20 Summit in St Petersburg reflect the Hungarian position. The public statement made by US Secretary of State John Kerry on September 9 urging Syria to hand over its entire stock of chemical weapons also points in the same direction as the declarations. Hungary hopes that that Assad regime will comply, and so the further escalation of the crisis can be avoided.

Hungary maintains its position that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis and that only a comprehensive political solution that guarantees security for all the various communities in Syria can lead the country out of the current bloodshed.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)