Mr Orbán recalled the ancient custom that in inclement weather people started watch fires in order to gather together and warm up by its flames.

“During his career of many decades, Árpád Farkas became such a watch fire of Háromszék, Transylvania and the entire Hungarian community. A stubborn torch-man with an unquenchable flame who, even during the decades of dictatorship in Romania and after the revolution, didn’t accept any order other than that which followed from the eternal commands of holding on to the Hungarian language, his native land and the guidance offered by his ancestors. Instead of fear, he took pride in the fact that as a Hungarian born into the fate of a minority he had to swim not with a lifebelt, but with a millstone around his neck,” the Prime Minister recalled in his message.

He took the view that it was to this that Mr Farkas owed the unwaveringly firm posture with which throughout his life he could say no to anything that threatened his own community’s self-esteem, but he was always ready to fight together with those who showed genuine concern for the fate of the Hungarian people.

“We are grateful that in his poems, writings and also as the editor of several significant newspapers in Transylvania, he was a brave advocate of the unity of the Hungarian nation across borders,” the Prime Minister wrote in his condolences message.

Kossuth Award winner poet Árpád Farkas died after a long illness aged 77 on Sunday in Sepsiszentgyörgy.