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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Hungary's president made a plea for national unity during commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising, saying that despite its many different interpretations, there was only one revolution.
Speaking at a gala at the Hungarian State Opera on the first day of celebrations, Laszlo Solyom said people were being selective about 1956 to suit their own interests.
"People are not only celebrating separately, they are also celebrating something else," Solyom said. "The fashionable slogan is that there were many 1956s, and with this the value and significance of 1956 is relativized.
"But I say there is only one 1956 revolution," Solyom said, his words interrupted by applause.
Opposition parties and several veterans groups planned to boycott events where Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany will speak. Protests against Gyurcsany have been ongoing since Sept. 17 when he was heard admitting on a leaked recording that his government lied about the economy to win re-election in April.
Also, many question the right of the Socialists -- heirs of the communist party which ruled Hungary until 1989 after the 1956 revolution was crushed by Soviet troops -- to lead the official commemorations.
"Oct. 23 could be a real national holiday if we wanted it to be and if we took the steps leading back to the unity and uniqueness of 1956," Solyom said.
Austrian President Heinz Fischer, speaking as a representative of the foreign guests, said the revolution had not been in vain, and pointed to Hungary's European Union membership.
"In a democracy, political opponents are not enemies, no party has exclusive possession of the truth," Fischer said, echoing Solyom's words. "Parties are important, but the country is even more important."
Earlier Sunday, Solyom, Gyurcsany and Parliamentary Speaker Katalin Szili handed out state awards to nearly 80 people, including many veterans of the revolution.
Several of the recipients only shook hands with Solyom at the ceremony, omitting Gyurcsany and Szili -- also from the Socialist Party.
Delegations from at least 56 countries are in Budapest for the commemorations. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Spain's King Juan Carlos are among the guests. The U.S. delegation is led by New York Gov. George Pataki, whose paternal grandparents were Hungarian immigrants.
Also on Sunday, Gyurcsany and Serbian President Boris Tadic unveiled a memorial plaque at the Serbian Embassy, where Prime Minister Imre Nagy -- who was returned briefly to power by the revolution -- sought asylum of what was then Yugoslavia along with several other political leaders of the uprising and their families.
After staying there for more than two weeks, Nagy and the others were guaranteed safe passage to return home, but instead were taken into custody by Soviet troops.
"For many, this building was first the home of hope," Gyurcsany said at the embassy. "Unfortunately, the road of lies began here."
Several events will also be held Monday, the actual anniversary of the start of the revolution, including the unveiling of a large memorial dedicated to the uprising near the spot where an 18-meter-high (60-foot-high) statue of Stalin was toppled and cut into pieces.
Around 2,800 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the Red Army attack, which was launched Nov. 4, 1956.
After the military defeat, strikes and protests continued for several weeks until a Soviet crackdown definitively ended the uprising in January 1957.
Some 200,000 Hungarians escaped the country and at least 225 Hungarians accused of participating in the revolution were executed -- including Nagy.
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