- Title: Hungary urges EU dialogue with Turkey to prevent new wave of migrants
- Date: 10th October 2019
- Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PETER SZIJJARTO SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, PETER SZIJJARTO, SAYING: "My position is that we need cooperate with Turkey. We need a constructive dialogue with Turkey and if we have a problem we have to speak about that openly. And I am not quite sure that the best way to address these very serious issues is exchanging messages through the public. So I don't know whether the European leaders have contacted the Turkish President or the Turkish foreign minister or whoever on this issue personally, or it was just sending a message, I don't know about that but what I know is that we need a constructive dialogue with Turkey to avoid a situation when an additional migratory flow arrives to Europe." SZIJJARTO SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, PETER SZIJJARTO, SAYING: "I always tell my colleagues that we should avoid a pattern of behaviour which some of us follow, that in one hand we look at Turkey as a guarantor for European safety in this regard as in taking care of almost 4 million migrants and refugees and on the other hand, some European countries are making a competition who can bash the Turkish president more." SZIJJARTO SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, PETER SZIJJARTO, SAYING: "We have not entered into that phase of the negotiation about the next period, how long a period should be covered by the next agreement. But what I know is that in order to ensure the gas supply of the country for the upcoming 4-5 years - it's going to be Russia to negotiate with."
- Embargoed: 24th October 2019 20:28
- Keywords: Hungary Peter Szijjarto Turkey Syria conflict migration gas Russian gas EU
- Location: BUDAPEST AND KISKUNDOROZSMA, HUNGARY
- City: BUDAPEST AND KISKUNDOROZSMA, HUNGARY
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0IOABD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The European Union should have a dialogue with Turkey despite Ankara's offensive on Kurdish-led forces in Syria, in order to avoid a fresh wave of migrants coming to Europe, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday (October 10).
Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies pushed further into Syrian territory on Thursday, opening up a new front in the Syrian civil war and exposing Europe's inability to influence the direction of the conflict.
The EU relies on Turkey to curb the arrival of refugees into Europe following a 2016 agreement to seal off the Aegean route after more than 1 million people entered the bloc. Turkey, which hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, threatened to "open the gates" to allow those already in the country to head for Europe unless it receives support for its plans.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in power for nearly a decade, has often been at loggerheads with Brussels, for example over his refusal to take in migrants under an EU quota scheme and his efforts to tighten control over the media, and academic institutions.
Under Orban, Hungary also pursues what he has hailed as good pragmatic relations with Russia. President Vladimir Putin is due to visit Budapest later this month.
Szijjarto said the main issue on the agenda will be energy, with Hungary still reliant on Russia for the natural gas it needs, as diversification of supply was still not possible in Central Europe due to a lack of alternative sources and pipelines.
When asked by Reuters reporters where Hungary would stand if the EU decided at the end of 2019 to extend sanctions against Russia that were imposed on Moscow after its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, Szijjarto said that they had would not break the unity of the European Union.
(Production: Kriszta Fenyo, Louisa Naks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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