”A Group Of Journalists May Be Interesting For Kidnappers”

Have you been consciously preparing to become a war correspondent ever since you were a child?

I got into this line of work by accident. Journalism was practically a compulsion, since I wanted to be a geography teacher originally. I was interested in cartography; when I was a child, I spent tremendous amount of time with studying maps – just like I do now. I took the entrance exams twice but I was not admitted. In order to avoid enlistment (laughs), I enrolled the Journalist School of MÚOSZ (Association of Hungarian Journalists) at the age of 18. Of course, I was interested in journalism, I just did not think that I would want to make a living by this. But later I became to like it so much that after completing school, I got to a daily paper as a trainee.

I suppose not as a military journalist – yet.

No, and what is more, back then I was interested in culture mostly. I wrote album reviews and concert reports. This interest has been present in my life since then. In 1996, I got to MTI as a trainee, where I was assigned public topics for the most part – I did not even deal with daily political issues. Then suddenly, the correspondent dealing with military issues became an editor, and they were looking for someone to replace him. At first, I strongly objected.

Were you not interested in this topic so much?

I thought that since I hadn’t been enlisted, I am not competent either. But on the contrary, they were looking for someone who is young and who can have an overview of the topic from the outside, keeping the distance, in other words: someone who doesn’t have grievances following a six-month service as an enlisted soldier. So this is how my career started. My first writing in the field of national defence was about the accident which happened in the Sinai Peninsula when Hungarian troops overturned in an ATV. I can say it was a successful article for I was the first one György Keleti, the Minister of Defence at the time told about the results of the investigation.

I think by the time it began to outline that this would be your area of specialization, it occurred to you too that you would have to go to dangerous areas as well.

Everybody smiles that I have never been a soldier and yet I am a military correspondent. People conclude that I must be visiting theatres of operations on many occasion, but when I began to work for MTI, journalists were taken to war areas even more rarely. Then they realized that this helps communications a lot. First the Balkans were the important site, then a system has evolved to show the journalists all the missions abroad. These visits took a few days, giving us numerous experiences: usually the team consisted of radio and television correspondents and journalists, and we could ask questions, which shed a different light on the troops. Back home, many people reckoned that enlisted soldiers are bored, they do nothing, but there was a process when people could realize that professionals work there. This is how I have also faced this fact during my work. I believe in the past 12 years I have spent much more time among soldiers and learned much more from them then I could have during the six-month service as an enlisted soldier.

When did you go to Afghanistan for the first time?

Two years ago, in 2006.

How did you prepare for the trip?

Back then, journalists were not really prepared. Although they were told in advance that the trip would be very dangerous. Before this year’s trip, there was a preparation session, but it was mainly for those who have never been to Afghanistan. For me, the preparation was the 2006 trip itself.

And was it really dangerous?

I think if one would visit the country only as a civilian, it would be far less dangerous than travelling among soldiers, who escort you all the way. A military convoy is much more conspicuous and can be more appealing to the terrorists than a civilian walking around in casual clothes. Unfortunately, I haven’t been there yet as a civilian, but a photographer colleague of mine spent two weeks in the city as a civilian, so to say a tourist, and there wasn’t any problem. Of course, we were not harmed either, but I am sure that being transported in a military convoy poses greater risk than taking a cab in the city as a civilian.

Were there plans for what happens if you are attacked?

Yes, there were. An important rule is that we cannot write about such trips in advance – it was the same in case of both the Iraq and the Afghanistan trip. We couldn’t write about the specific departure time in advance due to security reasons. Fortunately, all the journalists adhered to this. News could be released about the trip only after we got there. This situation is the same when the American president visits a war zone – it is never known in advance. There are several variations for the route, and also for instance for the order of visiting specific programmes in Afghanistan.

How did the soldiers take care of you?

Everybody was given a bulletproof vest and helmet, then we were seated in the back of a lorry which was covered and had an armoured platform, so we, the journalists seemed to be cargo. There were jeeps carrying the ministerial delegation and the new Humvee ATVs, now used by the troops for patrolling, were also there. From the outside it seemed that we were a plain military consignment. It couldn’t be seen that there is a group of journalists sitting in the vehicles, which may be interesting for a kidnapper. It was a three-hour journey during which we did not stop, not even once. The motorcade cannot stop since then the road section has to be closed, and halting is dangerous from security considerations. There was a colleague who had some inconveniences because of that (laughs), on the other hand bumping about in a box, with only a small window you can see through, is not pleasant. Plus there is a distress in you, of course, and the question: what if something happens right now?

As a correspondent, you have to aim at giving objective, precise reports, but there must have been subjective, personal observations, experiences, which moved you. Which were these?

Where the whole thing starts is that a certain overlook of what is happening in Afghanistan and the world is necessary. I have never been a foreign policy journalist, but I am aware of the events in the world. I think the presence of soldiers in Afghanistan is important. In my opinion in such a mission knowing the culture of the country is a must; I have read a lot of MTI news on the one hand, and on the other hand special books and the internet. All of this is necessary for staying objective. One must be aware of the terrible extent of poverty there; and that the majority of people make a living by drugs or letting their plots of land so that drugs can be grown there, or they even grow drugs themselves; that the man serving as a policeman during the day guards the drug fields at night because it pays much more. These facts must be considered first. On the recent trip we did not go out among the people like we did two years ago, when we went to the market. The strangest thing for me was that despite we are talking about the poorest country in Asia, the people seemed happy. They are cheerful, smiling, and their children are playing in the streets just like they do in Hungary for instance, and they do not feel how poor they are. Obviously, they don’t have a basis for comparison. It was strange to see children playing in the brook and twenty metres from there we could see faeces pouring into the same brook. Seeing this with your own eyes is not the same as for example going to a Hungarian village where there is severe poverty. They cannot even be compared. And I have experienced an even greater contrast during the trip: we crossed Abu Dhabi, one of the fastest developing countries in the world. What we could see was an endless line of super cars, Porsches, BMWs. They showed us the first seven-star hotel in the world – first we thought it is the Emir’s palace, but it was ’just’ a hotel, roughly half the size of the Parliament building. So here we encountered richness. And from here, a few hours later we reached the poorest country.

Did you speak with the locals as well?

Not now, but on our previous trip we went to a hospital renovated by Hungarians, and we did speak with them. What we have interpreted from their words was that they are very grateful. The presence of soldiers is important to them partly because of security, and partly because they can see development. The political leaders always tell us that locals are quite fed up with constant warfare and do not want to raise their children in a way that whenever they go out to the street, they have to fear they may die in an attempt.

To what extent is your work present in your private life? I mean is your bookshelf at home full of military lexicons, DVDs?

I don’t think that I watch war movies because of my profession – I have always liked them. Mostly the ones dealing with the situation in the Middle East. For example I have recently seen the American movie titled Charlie Wilson’s War, which is exactly about America providing arms to Afghanistan against the Soviets, and now this has reversed. One of my favourite films is Syriana, but not because I am a military correspondent. It is certain that I am more sensitive to these topics since the countries in the Middle East have never been touristic destinations for me. My first Middle Eastern experience by the way was not Egypt, Tunisia or Jordan, like most Hungarians visiting these countries as tourists, but Damascus, where I went because of my work. I happened to have a very significant experience in Damascus.

What was that?

We had a free night, so with four journalist colleagues we set off to have dinner. We took a taxi but unfortunately, the driver didn’t understand a single word of where we wanted to go. He stopped at the side of the road and asked two youngsters to help. The two guys sat next to us in the taxi and told us in English that they would show us where it is worth going to have dinner. When we got out of the cab, two Arab guys were escorting five men across the alleys… Due to our way of thinking, this immediately made us think of something bad and it crossed our mind what if they attack us. People could see that we are Europeans, later they learned that we are journalists on our way to Iraq, from this it could be concluded that we are on the allied side in the Iraq war. Nevertheless, the two boys had dinner with us, we were smoking sheesha, they presented the best local dishes, and I was thinking who would do the same thing at us, here in Hungary? Let’s say you are strolling in the city and five Arabs come to you and ask where they should go to have dinner, would you go with them? The point is that Arabs have a totally different approach to strangers. They are much more open to relationships, even when they know that there are religious differences between us, or at least this is what I have experienced. This momentum has significantly changed my way of thinking about the Arab world.

Where else have you been as a correspondent?

I have been to Sweden many times due to various arms purchases and the Gripens, and in Norway due to the radio system purchases. The Scandinavian world is a different world again than the European one, and these have been very good experiences as well. I often go to Le Bourget Air Show in Paris for I am very interested in aviation.

Civil aviation?

Yes, mostly, but it is my dream that similarly to Gábor Bochkor, I can also fly a MiG-29. I have already flown a training jet in Sweden (not as the pilot, of course). I haven’t flown a sailplane yet, but I have been on a Cessna. I also want to try parachuting.

Were there any tasks or situations during your career when you said no?

I’m sure I would not go to a frontline to report. I would not undertake to be away for weeks let’s say in Afghanistan, in the south, where there are very serious operations going on. Maybe ten years ago, when I was younger, I would have agreed to do it. I have been to Afghanistan three times and to Iraq three times, and with this I have tempted fate several times, just like the other journalists have. Of course, we have been taken care of. The biggest experience of my life was that I had the chance to fly a Black Hawk helicopter, but this is exactly what makes it more difficult, just like I have mentioned it before. When we went to Iraq by helicopter, ten minutes before takeoff we could see the people assembling the rear rotor. So these are great experiences, but everybody is afraid a bit.

As you have mentioned, you were not enlisted, but compulsory enlistment has been abolished. If you could decide today, would you join the military voluntarily?

If there was a military preparation process today which is not only about how to tolerate six months, and I would also have the chance to make myself familiar with the technical equipments, then yes, I would. In the past years we could try a great number of things: open days were organized for journalists so we could drive combat vehicles and shoot machine guns. I would gladly repeat these. If MTI could do without me for half a year, why not?