The ongoing discussions were prepared during the Turkish President's last visit to Budapest.Continue reading
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a press conference with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the end of his visit to Hungary yesterday.
“Türkiye and Hungary enjoy friendly relations. Today we had several meetings and signed a number of agreements,” the Turkish President began his statement, calling the Hungarian Prime Minister a “dear friend.”
Türkiye-Macaristan Yüksek Düzeyli Stratejik İşbirliği Konseyimizin 6’ncı toplantısı vesilesiyle Budapeşte’de bulunmaktan bahtiyarlık duydum. … pic.twitter.com/3bHYZpdPRq
— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) December 18, 2023
Viktor Orbán said:
we have established a privileged strategic cooperation relationship between the two nations.”
He added that “in the language of diplomacy, this symbolizes the closest, most amicable, fraternal, and political alliance, embodying the will of the two nations to collaborate intimately and advance shared objectives to the fullest extent possible.”
Important bilateral visit today by President @RTErdogan in Hungary. We signed the Enhanced Strategic Partnership Agreement between our countries, and attended the opening ceremony of the 2024 Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Year. Teşekkürler Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı! pic.twitter.com/tHuTwapKVP
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) December 18, 2023
The prime minister called it a serious commitment made in the hope that everything they had read in the Turkish President’s program would come true. He said that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “has set out a far-reaching program for the next century of Türkiye, which can be modestly summed up as the next 100 years are yours. We believed in it. That is why we have now sealed this agreement. We Hungarians have lost the last century. No one in Europe has lost the last century to the extent that we Hungarians have. Our plan is to win the 21st century. For this we are looking for allies.”
According to Orbán,
the great plan is that in the 21st century, Hungarians and Turks will be victorious together.”
On Hungarian-Turkish relations, he said that 500 Turkish firms were working in Hungary and 100 Hungarian businesses in Türkiye. The trade in goods between the two countries has doubled in the last decade. On the latter, President Erdoğan said that they are committed to reach a trade turnover of USD 6 billion, for this purpose they will encourage investment and have expanded cooperation to new fields.
The meeting also covered Hungary’s EU Presidency, the war in Ukraine and Gaza, and energy security. On these issues, the Turkish President assured Hungary of his support and stressed the importance of a ceasefire and diplomatic mediation in the settlement of the war situation.
During his state visit, Mr. Erdoğan had a private meeting with Hungarian Head of State Katalin Novák and presented a Turkish TOGG electric car to the Hungarian Prime Minister, who gifted him a Mezőhegyes-bred Nóniusz horse.
Via Index; Featured Image: X (fromerly Twitter) / Orbán Balázs