On September 2 the Representation Office of the Turkic Council in Budapest commemorated the anniversary of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan becoming independent on August 31, 1991. Nuran Niyazaliev, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan participated in the event and delivered remarks on the history of the past three decades.
The commemoration was opened by Ambassador János Hóvári, the Head of the Representation Office of the Turkic Council in Budapest. He said that the independence of the Central Asian countries and that of Azerbaijan is such a unique opportunity that will be marked this fall several times. The series of commemorative events will be launched with Kyrgyzstan which gained its independence after the disintegration of the Soviet Union on the last day of August, 1991. Ambassador Hóvári emphasized that Hungarian politicians, experts on foreign and security policy, Turkologists, historians and artists were celebrating together and marking the day with the guests from Kyrgyzstan. In the past three decades the country and its people have made huge progress since out of a Soviet member republic a sovereign, independent state has been born which enjoys the respect of the international community, and with which Hungary has in the past few years formed friendly relations.
András Baranyi, the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade responsible for the development of Eastern relations also underlined the development of relations with the East. He emphasized that in 2019, in the person of Viktor Orbán the first Hungarian Prime Minister paid a visit to Kyrgyzstan, in the capital of which – Bishkek – our country opened an embassy in February 2020. The Deputy State Secretary expressed his hope that as a sign of further deepening our bilateral relations, Kyrgyzstan will soon open its embassy in Budapest. “We conduct high-level meetings on a regular basis, and our economic ties are developing dynamically,” said the Deputy State Secretary.
At the commemoration, Nuran Niyazaliev, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan also delivered some remarks, thanking the Representation Office of the Turkic Council in Budapest for organizing the event. He pointed out that his country considers the cooperation among the members of the Turkic Council very important. Their working together has an extraordinary significance from the political, economic, as well as the cultural point of view. In his talk under the title “The Road from the Independence of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan,” the First Deputy Foreign Minister summarized the history of the past three decades during which besides the dynamic development some conflicts and checks have also occurred. During the first decade of independence the task facing the country was to introduce market economy, to lay down the foundations of democracy and join the international organizations. As a result of the latter, today the international community accepts Kyrgyzstan as an equal partner. They have already established diplomatic relations with 166 countries, and have joined 124 international organizations. Ninety embassies and twenty-seven UN agencies are working in Bishkek, which demonstrates that Kyrgyzstan is playing an important role in the Central Asian region.
Nuran Niyazaliev pointed out that in the settling of regional conflicts Kyrgyzstan is trying to play the role of a mediator. In such a way, it has participated in several peace-keeping operations, and become the venue of several multilateral negotiations aimed at settling regional conflicts. Kyrgyzstan has formed good relations with Russia and China, and is making efforts to achieve the same with its neighbors, as well as with the United States, Japan and South Korea. The setting up of the Turkic Council in 2009 means the formation of special and friendly relations with the member states, and Bishkek regards Hungary as a strategic partner. The First Deputy Foreign Minister expressed his special thanks to Hungary for assistance offered to his country during the pandemic.
Ambassador Iván Bába, a former State Secretary recalled that between 1991–1992, when he was working as a deputy state secretary supervising the region the Hungarian Foreign Ministry established its ties with its counterparts in Kyrgyzstan. He commemorated the diplomats, the Turkologists who took part in the building the bilateral relations of our two countries and nations. He believed that the past thirty years of Kyrgyzstan has been successful, and at the same time expressed his congratulations on the round anniversary.
As the closing moment of the event Tamás Palcsó and Dávid Kara Somfai performed to the audience folklore songs from Kyrgyzstan.
