János Jeney, our cartographer researcher, in Ps TV's "Dániel Ferkó interviews" programme. 103 years ago on this day, the leader of the Hungarian peace delegation, Count Albert Apponyi, gave his famous defence speech at the French Foreign Ministry.

The Count, who invoked ethno-nationalist arguments, emphasised in his exposé that the principle of national self-determination, proclaimed by US President Wilson and advocated by the Entente, could not be fulfilled if the draft peace treaty was implemented.

Speaking about the background to the tragic Trianon peace treaty, János Jeney, our researcher, said that in view of Hungary's weak position in the peace negotiations that ended the war, Count Pál Teleki, the author of the "red map", which also depicted ethnicity and population density, tried to use his informal contacts for the benefit of our country.

The Hungarian delegation provided the geographers of the victorious powers, including the American Lawrence Martin, with the materials in preparation, thanks to their old acquaintance. Martin described them as the work of an impartial scientist, and even stated that of all the maps submitted by the governments of the states, the one provided by Pál Teleki was the most accurate and objective.

Our researcher has suggested that the map prepared by the British expert B. C. Wallis, which was later accepted as an etalon, was prepared by correcting Hungarian data and falsifying statistics; moreover, there is good reason to believe that the British secret service, through his person, may have influenced the outcome of the peace negotiations.