Steven N.
Hungary has proposed that the Turkish Council and the Visegrad Group (V4) hold the highest-level leadership meeting in Budapest in the first half of 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced at the Istanbul Summit of the Turkish-speaking States on Friday.
In his speech, the Hungarian Prime Minister recalled that Hungary will lead the cooperation of the V4 until July 1, 2022. Viktor Orbán also spoke about the fact that the Hungarian and Turkish peoples have been linked by historical and cultural heritage dating back many centuries.
He pointed out that the Hungarian people are proud of this heritage, even when their opponents in Europe mocked the barbarian Huns and the people of Attila.
In his speech, Viktor Orbán also reported on Hungary’s previous commitments to the Turkish Council. He stated that Hungary had raised relations with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to a strategic partnership level, and that Hungary had opened a new embassy in Bishkek.
The Hungarian Prime Minister also mentioned that Hungary had increased the number of scholarship places for students from Turkish countries to 870. “The program is a success, with more than five thousand applicants applying for this school year,” he added.
Viktor Orbán also spoke about the situation in Afghanistan. As he said, Europe is facing a huge migration challenge, which in its history has never come under pressure from three directions at once.
He drew attention to the fact that it is in Hungary’s fundamental security interest to prevent another major wave of migration from Afghanistan.
The Turkish Council is an intergovernmental organization established in 2009. It is currently comprised of five Turkish-speaking Member States: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Hungary has had observer status in the group since 2018. Turkmenistan also received observer status at the current summit, now its eighth.
[Index]
