During the Zrinyi-Szigetvár 1566 memorial year, leaders of Hungary, Turkey and Croatia marked 450th anniversary of Szigetvár Siege. A monument to defenders of Szigetvár castle during its siege by the Ottoman army in 1566 was unveiled on Wednesday. The ceremony was attended by Hungarian President János Áder and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, his Croatian counterpart.

In his address, Áder spoke highly of Miklós Zrinyi, commander of the castle at the time, and said that the martyred nobleman was very well aware that “Szigetvár is not only a defender of the homeland but the last bastion of all that is valuable to him”. There was a lot more to defend than the castle walls: the king, to whom he had wowed to be faithful, the homeland, which his forefathers had heroically defended … and the Christian community and European traditions,” Áder said.

Grabar-Kitarovic called the Hungarian soldiers’ holding the castle against the far outnumbering Ottomans a “heroic deed of outstanding importance”. Szigetvár proved that the Ottoman empire could be stopped “on its way to Vienna” and it could be prevented from extending northward, she argued.

via: dailynewshungary.com; hungarymatters.hu

photos: 444.hu; Tamás Sóki / MTI