Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that they are trying to remove Hungary from the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The Turkish head of state made this statement on July 21, answering questions from journalists upon returning from the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Quotes from the Turkish leader.
What Erdogan said about Hungary’s removal from the presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Turkish President recalled that on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Alliance summit he met with the head of the Hungarian government, Victor Obran, who had previously visited Russia and China.
According to Erdogan, against this background, the Hungarian Prime Minister began to be actively criticized.
Now they are calculating how to remove Hungary from the rotating presidency of the EU, – said the head of the Turkish state.
He noted that Turkey is closely monitoring this process and called for patience.
I hope that with this patience we will do everything necessary together when the time comes, – added the Turkish leader.
Orban’s tour and Brussels’ reaction
The Presidency of the Council of the EU passed to Hungary on 1 July. The next day, the Hungarian prime minister met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kyiv, and on July 5 he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Orbán described the visits as stages of his peace mission.
Next, the head of the Hungarian government held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
After his visit to China, the Hungarian Prime Minister said that his parties must resolve the conflict in Ukraine, but the EU, the USA and China have a decisive influence on its completion.
From Beijing he went to Washington for the NATO summit, where he met with Erdogan and then met with former US President Donald Trump.
Orban later conveyed his peace plan to EU leaders and published a 10-point report on the visits, which he presented to European Council President Charles Michel.
The activities of the Hungarian prime minister caused sharp discontent in Brussels. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that Orban, despite Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council, does not represent the community in the external arena and does not have a mandate to visit the Russian Federation.
Orban responded that due to the nonsense of the Brussels bureaucrats, efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine are not yielding results.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov noted that the Kremlin highly appreciated Orban’s attempt to help resolve the conflict and considers it very useful and positive that he demonstrated the political will for dialogue.
