After stormy landing in Ankara, Orbán praised Erdogan as champion of peace

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has left Budapest for Ankara to attend the inauguration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Türkiye’s re-elected president, on Saturday afternoon.

According to information from the prime minister’s press office, Orbán “found it important to accept President Erdogan’s personal invitation, since his election victory is crucial for the security of Hungary and Europe”. Orbán posted on his Facebook that his plane’s landing was stormy in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Later he shared a video in which it was clear that the weather was not favourable above the city, there were huge rainfalls, and the prime minister’s jet could have fallen into trouble, but thankfully, nothing special happened.

Erdogan a champion of peace in Ukraine?

In the video, Orbán said that Erdogan is a pro-peace president. If he lost the election, a war supporter would have become the leader of the second-strongest NATO member state, which could have resulted in a disaster. Furthermore, he shows NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg shaking hands happily with Erdogan in Ankara.

Stoltenberg went against the Hungarian government this March when he convened the NATO-Ukraine Committee for the first time in four years. The decision was made even though Hungary did not support it. Péter Szijjártó, the Hungarian foreign minister, said that the pressure on the government is enormous. “I have the mandate to convene it. In respect for the issues that Hungary has raised I have not convened that for some time, but now I will continue to convene the meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission,”, the NATO Secretary General said then about his decision. In Ankara, Orbán and Stoltenberg probably met. But nothing was released about the details of a conversation.

According to the video, Orbán believes Erdogan may become a mediator between the warring parties bringing peace back to Eastern Europe.