FM Szijjártó on Kazakhstan: Attempts at Destabilization and Coups Run Completely Counter to Our Security Interests

MTI-Hungary Today 2022.01.11.

Hungary’s government supports efforts to restore peace and order in Kazakhstan, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday, adding that stability in Central Asia was in Hungary’s interest.

The past several years have shown that the situation of the Central Asian region has a fundamental impact on the security of Europe and specifically central Europe, the foreign ministry cited Szijjártó as saying in a video call with the foreign ministers of the Organization of Turkic States, in which Hungary has observer status.

“Our interests lie in a peaceful and stable Central Asia,” Szijjártó said. “Attempts at destabilization and coups run completely counter to our security interests, since they end up making more room for acts of terror and the spread of radical and extremist ideologies, which tends to lead to the emergence of large migration waves from various regions.”

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Prior to the video conference of the Turkic Council, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Kazakhstan is a strategic partner, therefore Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and assured him of Hungary’s solidarity over victims of recent developments. Referring to the events, he said that in Kazakhstan “an attempt was made to topple the constitutional order, and a well-coordinated attack was made against the Kazakh state itself.” The Hungarian government offered its assistance to the Kazakh state last week, the Foreign Minister added.

Szijjártó said the members of the Organization of Turkic States passed a joint declaration at their virtual meeting in which they condemned “violence and vandalism” in Kazakhstan, expressed their solidarity with the Kazakh people as well as their sympathies over the death toll in the wake of the upheaval in the country.

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Cooperation between Hungary and Kazakhstan rests on a solid base and the International Turkic Academy serves as an “excellent platform” of it, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at the academy in the Kazakh capital on Tuesday. Szijjártó said in a speech that “the deep relations built with mutual trust rest on the two nations’ insistence […]Continue reading

As regards the violent protests, Szijjártó said: “We know very well from experience what tends to happen in these instances on the international political scene. We usually see so-called human rights groups and certain countries wanting to level criticism and approve declarations condemning the situation.”

“But there’s no place for those this time,” the minister said, adding that the international community should instead work to prevent a repeat of “similar worrying and violent developments”.

Those responsible for any form of violence must not be absolved and terrorist groups and organizations spreading extremist ideology must not be given space to operate, he added.

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Szijjártó said the two countries were striving to improve their ties, rather than "lecturing each other and interfering with each other's internal affairs".Continue reading

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the recent developments in Kazakhstan had also demonstrated the importance of economic development schemes in the region, arguing that it was economic progress that provided the foundations of stability and peace. Hungary’s government, therefore, supports the creation of a Turkic investment fund, which could help launch further investment projects in Central Asia, he said.

Featured photo by Balázs Mohai/MTI