The message of the Peace Procession organized by the Civil Co-operation Public Benefit Foundation (CÖKA) on March 15 is “clear not to war, No war!” said the founder of the CÖF, the chairman of the board of trustees of the CÖKA, on Wednesday in Budapest.

At a press conference, László Csizmadia asked that as many people as possible take part in the Peace Procession and bring Hungarian flags.

Regarding the route, he described: the gathering will take place in front of the Komjádi swimming pool at 12 noon, then they will head towards Margaret Bridge, the crowd will arrive at Kossuth Square via Szent István Boulevard, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street, and then Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will give a keynote speech.

According to the information of László Csizmadia, the organizers will provide a special place for the disabled close to the stage, where Hungarian Paralympics will express their support for peace.

Our “Polish brothers” as well as the Italian national-conservative trade union, the UGL crowded delegation, the Spanish Solidarity trade union and the Roma charity will take part in the peace process, he said.

László Csizmadia himself also announced that CÖKA will donate HUF 250,000 from the management money to the Hungarian Ecumenical Relief Organization to support refugees from Ukraine.

Turning to the war in Ukraine, he states that he is threatening the security of Europe and the world when Russian troops launch an aggressive attack on a sovereign country, Ukraine. Hungary also condemns the invasion, with Russia treating all 27 EU member states as unfriendly, he recalled.

As he said, Hungary welcomes the pre-war refugees, Hungarians, Ukrainians and other nations with “full solidarity”, and the Visegrád countries will do their utmost to help them.

“European citizens are unanimous in demanding the resumption of peace talks and EU member states fully agree with severe but reasonable sanctions against aggression,” he said.

László Csizmadia also mentioned that the vast majority of Hungarians support the government’s decision not to supply arms to Ukraine and not to allow them to pass through its territory.

The founder of the CÖF also reported that the Peace Proclamation commemorates the heroes of the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49, “our Polish brothers; we are grateful to József Bem and Józef Wysocki, who fought on the side of the Hungarians.” The events of 1848 also remind us that “the hard-won freedom is even harder to defend”; it proves that peace always prevails, common sense triumphs, “he emphasized.

Zsolt Bayer, an editor-publicist, said that the Peace Procession as its name had never been as relevant as it is now. He called the affirmation of peace the only normal, interpretable, and correct policy. He also stressed the importance of sanctions against Russia “not becoming a weapon that goes backwards”. He mentioned as an example that the German Chancellor has realized what the Hungarian Prime Minister has been saying since the beginning, that only sanctions that do not hit the countries that impose them can be imposed. In his view, the energy sector should be exempted from sanctions.

According to the assessment of the great entrepreneur Gábor Széles, the war in Ukraine will have profound consequences in economic terms as well; the situation is even more difficult economically than politically. He believed that if they wanted to “push Russia back” to mid-power status, it would cause an economic downturn around the world.

Zoltán Lomnici Jr., a spokesman for CÖF-CÖKA, said that the left had politicized the interests of the Hungarian people before and after 1989 and was looking solely at its own interests, and now they would send weapons to Ukraine, threatening Hungary’s security; the renunciation of Russian gas and the severance of economic relations are, in his view, against Hungary’s interests.

Political scientist Tamás Fricz, a member of the Board of Trustees of the CÖF-CÖKA, talks about the fact that the war has now overwritten the issues of values, including national sovereignty and traditions, the Christian roots for which the Peace Procession stands, but has not resolved them. He believed that in order to settle the war in Ukraine, all parties needed a high degree of restraint. The Peace Proclamation must be a peace process – voiced and praised Hungary’s exemplary standing in the matter.

Journalist István Stefka believed that Hungary was threatened by two types of threats: war from the east and globalism and liberalism from the west, which wanted to engulf the countries that adhered to their traditions.

András Bencsik, editor-in-chief of the weekly Democrat, explained that in the April 3 election, “life and death must be chosen” and that a bad decision could cause Hungary to drift into war. He appreciated those who took part in the Peace March, the “acting heroes” of Hungary, who wanted the power of love and togetherness to prevail.

At the event, Zoltán Lomnici Jr. presented the Civil Justice Committee operating within the framework of CÖKA, Hungarian! which exposes countless leftist crimes before and after the regime change. Referring to the double standard, he also called it unacceptable that “there was no Nuremberg trial for communist sins.”