Antalya Diplomacy Forum like UN General Assembly without Western Europe, says Hungarian minister

ANTALYA, Türkiye

Türkiye's Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) is like a UN General Assembly without Western European countries, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Sunday.

He attended the ADF 2024 held at the NEST Congress Center in the Belek Tourism Region, of which Anadolu is the "Global Communication Partner."

Szijjarto told Anadolu that the ADF is like a UN General Assembly without Western Europe.

"So many representatives of countries from all continents have been present here, which gives us a great chance to carry out bilateral talks in a very effective manner," he said.

Noting that world diplomacy has become a "negative term" these days, he said the European foreign policy is unfortunately being narrowed down to the war in Ukraine.

"There is a war psyche on the European continent. Once you mention diplomacy or peace in these debates, you are considered to be either a spy of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, a friend of the Russians, or a propagandist of the Kremlin," he said.

As the neighbor of the war in Ukraine, he said his country is especially interested in diplomacy's rebirth as a tool in international politics.

He hoped that platforms such as the ADF could help in this regard.

Bilateral relations

Stressing that the bilateral ties between Türkiye and Hungary are based on mutual respect and trust, Szijjarto said respect is lacking in international politics.

On economic relations, he said they broke the record for trade volume of $4 billion, which is another "important milestone" on the road to the $6 billion set by the Turkish president.

Regarding the Hungarian National Assembly's approval of the agreement regarding Sweden's participation in NATO, he said there was a "lack of trust" between Sweden and Hungary.

"This lack of trust was created by the Swedish politicians because they kept on criticizing, judging, lecturing, and accusing Hungary for years. We are a pro-enlargement country, in all organizations, very happy present in both the EU and NATO," he said.

He added that from a geopolitical perspective, "it was obvious that if Sweden wanted to join, we should let them in."

US leadership role in security crisis

Szijjarto added that security crises such as the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza could not be solved if there was no strong American leadership.

"I'm pretty sure that if President (Donald) Trump had been elected back in 2020, both security-related crises could have been resolved already," he added.

So, from the perspective of Ukraine, he believed that Trump would make peace and would be able to contribute to an enhanced security situation.
He added that if the "conflict" in Gaza escalates to other countries, it will result in a regional war.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar