PHOTOS, VIDEO: Turkish foreign minister decorated with high Hungarian state award

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Thursday handed over the Order of Merit of Hungary, Middle Cross with Star, civilian division, to his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, for “deepening the friendship between the two countries”.

A statement from the foreign ministry quoted Szijjártó as referring to the “unprecedented challenges” of the recent past, such as the financial, migration, and health crises, as well as the war in Ukraine. “When such troubles occur … you will know who is a true friend,” Szijjártó said, adding that Cavusoglu had “always been a true friend to Hungary and hopefully he will stay so.”

Szijjártó said he had met his counterpart in 2015 for the first time, for talks on a possible transit for Hungary’s gas supplies through Türkiye, which “seemed utopistic at the time”. “But today, if it was not for the Turk Stream pipeline, we could not import gas via Türkiye, and could not talk about a secure energy supply for Hungary,” he insisted. Among the achievements, he also mentioned lifting the visa requirement between the two countries.

“Another important cornerstone of our friendship is that both countries’ foreign strategies are built on mutual respect,” Szijjártó said, adding that while Türkiye was a world power, during his talks he had never felt that “representatives of countries from two different dimensions are talking to each other”.

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