Hungarian president calls off tense Slovak visit

                                
 * Slovakia says Hungarian president unwelcome
                                
 * Had been invited by Slovakia's ethnic Hungarians
                                
 * Memories of Soviet invasion still sensitive
                                
 
                                
 BRATISLAVA, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Hungarian President Laszlo
Solyom cancelled a private visit to Slovakia on Friday after
Bratislava called the trip a provocation, in fresh escalation of
tensions between the two European Union and NATO members.
                                
 Slovakia sent a note to its southern neighbour on Friday,
saying Solyom was not welcome in the central European country on
Aug. 21, the 41st anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of what
was then Czechoslovakia.
                                
 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Solyom's visit was
inappropriate because the Hungarian army formed part of the
invasion troops. 
                                
 Solyom had been invited by the local authority of a mostly
ethnically Hungarian town to attend the unveiling of a statue.
                                
 "The president, the chairman of parliament and the prime
minister of Slovakia have condemned the circumstances in which
the Hungarian president chose to stress Hungarian statehood on
sovereign Slovak soil," Fico told a news conference.
                                
 "The private trip, with a planned public speech, is
considered a provocation, and, in such circumstances, the
Hungarian president is an unwelcome person in Slovakia on Aug.
21," Fico added. He said Solyom could come on any other day.
                                
 The incident showed rising tensions between Bratislava and
Budapest, which have had frequent diplomatic clashes about the
treatment of the ethnic Hungarian minority which makes up 10
percent of Slovakia's 5.4 million population.
                                
 Budapest ruled over Slovakia within the Austro-Hungarian
empire until its break-up after World War One.
                                
 Relations between the two ex-communist states worsened after
Fico brought the rightist Slovak National Party (SNS), known for
harsh rhetoric against minorities, into his ruling coalition
following elections in 2006.
                                
 Solyom criticised the Slovak position.
                                
 "This is an unprecedented measure which is inexplicable in
the relations of two allied states, and for which no excuse can
be found, particularly the justification that my presence would
mean a security risk," Solyom told journalists.
                                
 In March, Romania withdrew the landing permit for Solyom's
plane when he was planning to take part in the celebrations of
the March 15 Hungarian national day by ethnic Hungarians in
Romania.
                                
 The decision caused a diplomatic spat between the two
countries, and Solyom eventually arrived by car in the
neighbouring EU member which is home to about 1.5 million ethnic
Hungarians.
 (Reporting by Peter Laca and Sandor Peto; editing by Robin
Pomeroy)