The diplomatic tiff between Saudi Arabia and Hungary still rumbled yesterday with both nations making opposing statements on the reasons for the cancellation of the visit of Hungarian Parliament Speaker Katalin Szili, who was to have visited Riyadh from Feb. 19-22. According to a report by the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Saudi Arabia has said that it will not receive Szili until Budapest officially apologizes for the nasty remarks made by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany against the Saudi soccer players.
The DPA report quoting unnamed diplomatic sources said: "The Kingdom would not receive the Hungarian speaker, during this period of diplomatic tiff." But an official in charge of the media affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm this. The official, who only confirmed the news of the recall of the Saudi ambassador to Hungary for consultations, said: "An announcement about the Saudi position on the whole episode will be made shortly."
Hungarian Ambassador Istavan Tolli, meanwhile, termed the report as "misleading" and said Szili's trip was canceled for reasons unrelated to Gyurcsany's remarks. Tolli said: "A note from the Hungarian side was sent to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Shoura Council about the postponement of the visit last Friday." He said the visit of the Hungarian speaker has been postponed for the time being because of her preoccupation with "unforeseen official duties". He, however, hastened to add that Gyurcsany had apologized again for his remarks against the Saudi soccer players.
A statement released by the Hungarian Embassy yesterday expressed the hope that the apology offered by the prime minister would bring to an end this sorry episode. The Hungarian Embassy's press release has quoted Gyurcsany as saying: "As I said earlier, I regret if my statement was misunderstandable and insulting. It was not my intention to insult the government and people of Saudi Arabia. However, if my remarks had that effect, I express my apology to them." The Hungarian premier made this apology on Monday, while addressing an international press conference in Germany. The embassy statement further said: "It is the firm intention of the Hungarian government to develop friendly relations and to strengthen the many-sided cooperation between our two countries, thus contributing to the mutual understanding between the two peoples."
"It is sincerely hoped that the Saudi ambassador to Hungary will return, as soon as possible, to his post in Budapest," said the statement. Gyurcsany triggered the spat following a 0-0 drawn soccer game on Feb. 2 that had been billed as a friendship match. Speaking during a function organized to celebrate the 15th anniversary of his political party, Gyurcsany said: "I think there were many terrorists among the Saudi players and our boys fought fearlessly against these terrorists." |