Hungary intends to strengthen her cooperation with the International Organization of Turkic Culture since despite the great geographical distance our country has always cultivated deep cultural ties with the Turkic peoples.
Péter Szijjártó pointed out in Khiva, Uzbekistan that the cooperation of Hungary with the member countries of the Turkic Council has produced great profits: since 2010 we have managed to double our turnover in trade, and the sides have offered great assistance to one another in overcoming the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. At the session of the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY), the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade underlined that the volume of trade between Hungary and the Turkic countries has already reached USD4 billion, and the friendly cooperation is bringing palpable advantages in other fields as well. He declared that the Government of Hungary was committed to further strengthening the relations among our peoples. He believed that the road to achieve this was through reaching out to young people. In connection with this, he pointed out that each year Hungary provides 850 scholarships to students from the Turkic countries. The serious interest in the program is indicated by the fact that this year 4.900 students have already applied. Among other factors, Péter Szijjártó referred to our common past, the migration of the Hungarian tribes from the East to the West, and also the fact that despite settling down later in the Carpathian basin, the Hungarians have preserved their ties with the peoples of the steppe. He added that the Hungarians are sometimes called “the Eastern people who are the most Western, sometimes the Western people that are the most Eastern.”
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade also spoke about the travels of the Hungarian researchers in Central Asia in the 19th century that have greatly contributed to Oriental studies. He cited the example of the famous Orientalist, Ármin Vámbéry who in 1863 spent half a year in Khiva. The Uzbek side is prepared to dedicate an exhibition to the lifework of the Hungarian Turkologist. Péter Szijjártó underlined that at the moment, after the failure of the international intervention in Afghanistan, especially great attention is paid to the Central Asian region. In the wake of this, the security situation there has become extremely alarming, and one could reasonably reckon with a massive wave of illegal migration.
