Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is currently in Türkiye, where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. One of Orbán’s closest allies in the region, Erdoğan is facing unrest on a scale not seen in years following the arrest of opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu on charges of corruption and alleged links to terrorism.
After meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Tuesday and having a lengthy phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Wednesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary travelled to Ankara, Türkiye to continue discussions about the potential peace in the Russo-Ukrainian war with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye this time.
After meeting President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss prospects for peace in Ukraine. Orbán also travelled to Türkiye to engage in talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with peace efforts as a central topic of discussion.
The two countries celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey and the initiation of Hungarian-Turkish diplomatic relations with a Hungarian-Turkish cultural season starting on 18 December. On the occasion of the anniversary, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will also visit Budapest.
Erdoğan spoke about the issue of Sweden’s NATO membership during a press conference held at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before travelling to the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. He stated that Turkey would approve Sweden’s NATO membership if the European Union resumes accession negotiations with his country.
Given Erdoğan’s pro-Ottoman policies, many were a bit surprised that the first to congratulate him in his victory, even two weeks before the runoff when he was projected as the frontrunner, was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The paradox in this is that both are ardent defenders of their respective faiths that have historically been in conflict with each other.
The Hungarian Prime Minister congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the phone on his victory in the first round of the presidential election in Turkey.
The Hungarian foreign minister condemned the burning of an effigy of Turkish President Erdogan in Stockholm as ‘shameful and disgusting’.
The defeated coup attempt in 2016 changed Türkiye forever. One of the most significant legacies of 15 July is the vision of a terror-free country, which later took shape as a concrete initiative, already yielding results such as the disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. A more secure Türkiye is not only favourable for the country itself, but also for Europe—and Hungary within it.
15 July has become a symbol of patriotism and democracy in Türkiye, as the Turkish people have commemorated the 2016 failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan every year since. This year, the presidency organized unprecedented international media events to honour the martyrs who lost their lives holding back the putschists.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
