Hungarian foreign minister honors victims

Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi laid a wreath at the Victims of Communism Memorial early Thursday before embarking on three days of meetings and speeches in Washington.

”I wanted to pay personal respects to the victims,” he said in an interview, adding that his visit to the memorial was an “extremely important symbolic gesture.

Hungary was under the rule of the Soviet Union after World War II, and thousands of Hungarians were imprisoned or executed by communist regimes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Hungary established a democratic government and held multiparty elections in 1990.

Mr. Martonyi said he believes that Hungary has achieved a good framework of democracy. He thanked many foreign leaders and organizations for helping Hungary transition to democracy, but above all he wanted to thank the Hungarian people for their persistence.

“Without the aspirations of the people, it would have been impossible to establish democracy,” Mr. Martonyi said.

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