Hungary backs Trump’s legacy in the Middle East

Hungary remains dedicated to the expansion of the Abraham Accords on Arab-Israeli normalisation and it is ready to participate in promoting the process, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

The ministry cited Szijjártó telling the Peace of Westphalia conference in Münster that the treaty signed 375 years ago made state sovereignty the main principle of international relations and it was still highly important to Hungary. Hungary has always lost out on conflicts between East and West and it is based on this historical experience that the government argues in support of civilised cooperation and peace between blocs today, he said.

Szijjártó told a panel discussion on the Middle East peace process that “to put it simply, the government’s position is that war is bad and peace is good”. It is at the negotiating table that one should seek to resolve all armed conflicts because in the battlefield there is only death and destruction, he added. He criticised the fact that in the case of wars outside the continent, the Foreign Affairs Council had always called for immediate dialogue and ceasefire, but the approach to Ukraine was completely different.

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He said that the conclusion of the Abraham Accords had demonstrated that in the case of most conflicts there was a chance to find a solution and to pre-empt the re-formation of blocs in the world. Szijjártó said the Abraham Accords should serve as an example for resolving other similar conflicts around the world and added that “even though the Middle East seems to be far away in a geographical sense, we all know that whatever happens in the Middle East, it has direct influence on Europe”.

He said Hungary maintained strategic ties with Arab countries in the region and at the same time was an ally of Israel. Commenting on talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal, he said it would improve global security, and added that sealing off Tehran would be a much worse option.