Hungarians are not laying claims on parts of Croatia and they know very well where the border is because during the migrant crisis in 2015/2016 they erected a wire fence on it, Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Monday.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has recently unveiled the “Hungarian Calvary” monument on the occasion of the centenary of the Treaty of Trianon when Hungary lost two-thirds of the territory it had had before.

The monument portrays a map of Great Hungary which encompasses parts of modern day Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Romania and Ukraine which were part of the then Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire even though most of these areas were never inhabited by Hungarians.

Croatia reacted and expressed its protest to Hungary’s ambassador in Zagreb however Grlic Radman does not think that Budapest is laying claims to Croatian territory.

“This is in memory of something, a historical reminiscence of something that existed one hundred years ago,” Grlic Radman told reporters.

“Hungarians have never called for anything to be returned to them and in the migrant crisis they erected a wire fence where the Croatian-Hungarian border is, as such they know where the border is,” said Grlic Radman who used to be Croatia’s ambassador to Budapest.

On several occasions Orban displayed a map of Great Hungary which includes parts of Croatia, the last time being in May when he sent a message to high school seniors ahead of state exams with the historical map of Hungary.

Grlic Radman said that that topic had never been discussed with his counterpart Peter Szijjarto. Claiming territory in the European Union “is inconceivable and is not expected,” Grlic Radman underscored.

He recalled that Hungary was among the first countries in 1992 to recognise Croatia’s territorial integrity and independence.

“We did not write the past, but we now have the present and future in our hands,” said Grlic Radman referring to relations between Zagreb and Budapest as “strategic, partner-like and pragmatic.”

What is inscribed on the contentious plaque?

On Sunday media outlets reported that the inscription on the unveiled plaque reads” Rijeka – The Hungarian Sea.”

Earlier in the day the Foreign and European Affairs ministry reacted to the “inappropriate inscription,” laying claims to Croatian territory however the Hungarian Embassy responded that the inscription was incorrectly translated and interpreted.

The proper translation, the Hungarian Embassy claimed, should read “Rijeka – To the Sea, Hungarians,” which is allegedly a citation from a newspaper article from 1846 written by poet and politician Lajos Kossuth to motivate the construction of a railway and in which he described the beauty of the sea and coastline, the Croatian ministry has said.