Foreign minister in talks with Russian, Turkic leaders

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is scheduled to meet his Russian and Iranian counterparts, as well as the foreign ministers of the Organization of Turkic States, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

At a working breakfast, Szijjártó said his Azeri counterpart would give an outline of the developments in Nagorno-Karabakh, where he said Armenian troops were expected to be withdrawn under an agreement, presenting a “good chance of peace in the region”. Szijjártó welcomed the news, saying “if the many armed conflicts in the world connect, that would threaten with a global war, maybe even the third world war.”

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said “several pieces of fake news” had been published regarding a joint European Union declaration on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on Thursday. “The truth is that Hungary and other member states have also made proposals regarding the statement, but there was no consensus, so the High Representative [of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy] published it in his own name.”

“Hungary’s stance is clear on this issue too: we need peace rather than war, it’s time that the suffering of the people of Karabakh finally ended … Those unilateral statements don’t help, but the UN would be an excellent forum for personal meetings,” he said. In talks with his Turkish colleague, Szijjártó said they would review bilateral energy cooperation, including nuclear cooperation and the purchase agreement of natural gas. Szijjártó will also meet his Iranian counterpart. “Whenever Iran is ousted from the international community and the circle of reliable partners, that always prompts uncertainty in the Middle East, raising the spectre of another security risk or armed conflict,” he said. “We promote dialogue here, too,” he said. Hungary is a member of a programme of the International Atomic Energy Agency aimed at the peaceful use of Iranian nuclear capacities, he said.

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Meeting with Lavrov

Szijjártó is also slated to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and discuss with him the prerequisites of restoring peace in the region.

“We want the killing to stop. We don’t want any more people to die and for peace talks to start as soon as possible, after a ceasefire,” he said. War is harming “everyone, but especially Europe, where everyone is paying the price of war, including Hungarians who have no part in it,” he said. “In talks with other foreign ministers in the world, I have seen that the world has had enough of the war. Everyone wants peace,” Szijjártó said.