Outgoing Turkish Ambassador to Hungary Türkiye, Her Excellency Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu, reflects on four years in Budapest as a period defined by major diplomatic milestones, intensified cultural diplomacy, and strengthened bilateral ties with Hungary. In an interview, she highlights the deepening strategic partnership between the two countries, the emotional solidarity shown after the 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye, and the rapid expansion of cooperation ranging from trade and defence to culture and education, describing Hungary as a “second home” built on shared history and mutual support.
Daily News Hungary (DNH): If you had to describe your Budapest tenure since 2022 in three keywords, what would they be – and why those three?
Her Excellency Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu: My tenure here in Budapest coincided with many historic milestones, like the centenary of the Republic of Türkiye, 100th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Hungary, 2024 Cultural Year and 2025 Year of Science and Innovation. As such, I can take pride that we have used all the utensils in the toolbox of cultural diplomacy to leverage Türkiye’s soft power and boost our people-to-people contacts.
Describing four beautiful years in three words could be challenging, but let me repeat my description of Turkish perception of Hungary. We consider Hungary as a distant relative, close neighbor and traditional partner. I am not only referring to our lineage going back all the way to Central Asia, but we are certainly among fondest family members in terms of our feelings towards one another. We are not sharing a border, yet our perspectives on crucial issues affecting our neighborhood are similar. And most importantly, the Turks and Magyars have stood together against many challenges and developed cordial relations as two partner nations.
DNH: Was there a moment or decision when you felt something “shifted” in Hungarian–Turkish relations – in tone, trust, or the pace of cooperation?
Ekşioğlu: Turkish-Hungarian relations are deep-rooted and long-spanning. Our cooperation and solidarity have evolved through centuries of interaction. Today, we are two strategic partners and NATO allies with an ever-expanding agenda of bilateral cooperation from trade to culture and energy to defense industry. In this respect, four years is just a short period of time considering the lifespan of two ancient nations and their relationship.
However, I can tell you a rather personal moment when I think both my understanding of Hungary and Hungarians’ perception of myself really “shifted”. You would remember the earthquakes that struck several Turkish cities back in February 2023 – just a few months after my arrival in Budapest. Hungary was among the very first to rush to our help by immediately dispatching many search and rescue teams. Donations literally poured into the Embassy and Hungarian people from different walks of life sent us whatever they thought could be useful for the survivors or family members of more than 50.000 victims. We were all deeply moved by the participation of Hungarian children in the aid campaigns with their drawings and by sending us their pocket money to be shared with the children in the earthquake zone.
Back then, my husband was coaching the football team in Hatay near to the epicenter of the earthquake. He was under the rubbles and emerged as one of the survivors. Of course, I immediately went there probably at around the same time with the Hungarian search and rescue teams. I even saw them at the airport waiting for the guidance of Turkish authorities on where to go and what to do. We might have arrived at the same time in Türkiye. My husband was blessed to save himself with the help of his neighbors, but it was our Hungarian friends who saved many others from under the rubbles. Their professionalism was remarkable, but I could also see in their eyes that they genuinely cared for us and shared our pain.
When I came back to Budapest with my husband, both the Hungarian officials and the members of this great nation embraced us. They hugged and consoled us personally as the Ekşioğlu family, and in my capacity as the Turkish Ambassador, they embraced their fellow Turkish nation. Once more, Hungary demonstrated that a friend in need is a friend indeed.
It was the moment when I realized the true essence of our centuries-long solidarity. It was also exactly when Budapest became our second home.
DNH: Many diplomats describe Budapest as a bridge city between East and West. From your perspective, what makes Budapest distinctive in this role – and how has that shaped your work as Türkiye’s ambassador here?
Ekşioğlu: In many ways, Türkiye and Hungary constitute bridges in their own regions. Türkiye connects Europe and Asia, whereas Hungary connects East to the West with. However, I am not a great fan of the “bridge” analogy itself to underline a unique geopolitical location. At the end of the day, “bridges” are very static creatures, they are stripping us of the agency. However, for any foreign policy to be successful, it needs to be more proactive, agile and multidimensional.
The fact that both Türkiye and Hungary are in central locations in their own regions, at a time characterized by increased uncertainties, crises, conflicts, political and economic rivalries and inequalities brings the inevitable necessity to adopt a dynamic foreign policy with a pragmatic approach. Being cognizant of this reality, both Türkiye and Hungary are doing their best to capitalize on this unique bridge location.
This is how we developed fruitful collaborations across bilaterally and also multilaterally. From the UN to NATO, and OSCE to Organization of Turkic States-OTS, we stand in solidarity. Hungary has also traditionally supported Türkiye’s EU candidacy.
DNH: What are things you most appreciated in Hungary that you will take with you to Ankara as good practice?– people, working culture, the city’s rhythm, or institutional mindset –
Ekşioğlu: Hungarian professionalism and pragmatism certainly left a lasting imprint in my understanding. Within the Hungarian bureaucracy, I have met not only senior and experienced officials but also very young, highly-skilled and competent functionaries, with whom we all had very productive collaborations.
From a rather personal side, Budapest has become a home away from home in the past four years with my three kids. We are all amazed by Hungarian history and culture as well as its natural beauty. I will definitely miss taking long strolls along the Danube River and cycling around the peaceful Lake Balaton with my family.
DNH: On the economic track: How do you evaluate the current status of Turkish-Hungarian economic relations and what can be the future targets?
Ekşioğlu: Trade and economic relations have traditionally become one of the strongest suits of the Turkish-Hungarian relations. When I came to Budapest back in 2022, our trade volume was around 2,7 billion Dollars, today surpassed 5 billion Dollars.
Back in 2013 when we established a strategic partnership, we were mostly buying and selling finished products between our markets or engaged in simple acquisition schemes. Today, Turkish and Hungarian companies are co-developing state-of-the art defense industry products, building new factories that would contribute to the Hungarian economy, empowering the Hungarian energy grid or developing real estate projects.
DNH: On cultural diplomacy: Was there a Hungarian cultural experience (exhibition, theatre, music, gastronomy, a neighbourhood) that you will remember the most?
Ekşioğlu: As one of the finest examples of cultural diplomacy, the 2024 Turkish-Hungarian Year of Culture featured concerts, stage performances, exhibitions, symposiums and conferences as well as various sports diplomacy and gastro-diplomacy events across 14 different cities of Hungary. Overall, we reached more than one million Hungarian people with 114 events. Thanks to the Year of Culture events, we not only showcased different components of the Turkish culture, but also discovered the similarities between the Turkish and Hungarian culture. The logo of this remarkable year itself was actually showing the shared patterns in Turkish and Hungarian handicrafts and embroidery.
As a more specific example, the gastrodiplomacy events that we held throughout the year actually showed us that from pogaca to kapuska, and stew to goulash, we indeed have similar dishes and cooking techniques in Turkish and Hungarian cuisines.
Over the last four years, I was one of the dedicated followers of cultural programmes in the Opera and MÜPA. The depth and breath of the cultural scene in Hungary amazed me on each and every occasion.
DNH: Embassy work is often invisible to the public. What was the most difficult human or leadership situation you faced in Budapest – and what did it teach you?
Ekşioğlu: You are absolutely right. More often than not the Embassy work is invisible and unappreciated. There are many stories behind the scenes of glamorous moments like summits, bilateral visits and events. I was lucky to have worked with a very professional and competent team at the Embassy.
I think the most difficult period was after the February 2023 earthquakes. In addition to the personal dimension I just mentioned, the Embassy had to coordinate the donation campaign, store and dispatch all the material collected at the Embassy to Türkiye. All this was happening when the usual Embassy work still goes on. It put a lot of strain on us both mentally and physically.
In two months time, we had to get organized for the elections in Türkiye so that the Turkish community living in Hungary could physically vote at the Embassy. It has been another challenge, yet we managed to pull it through and actually enjoyed the cordial atmosphere of getting together with thousands of Turkish citizens.
Both these experiences and the Embassy work in general taught me the importance of the team spirit and trust. If you work as one team and could trust each other, then the success is within reach. And my team is the real hero of the past four years.
DNH: If you could highlight one long-term result from your years in Budapest – something that should continue to work after your departure – what would it be, and how will it live on?
Ekşioğlu: I would very much count on the lasting effects of our cultural diplomacy endeavors. We are still reaping the benefits in terms of bilateral trade, tourism and visibility of the Türkiye brand.
Yet, for this atmosphere to continue, we need more and enhanced connections between Türkiye and Hungary. We worked hard to connect the two capitals with direct flights. At last, the Wizz Air already took the initiative and has started the direct flights between Ankara and Budapest last month.
The recently signed Air Services Agreement will help us gradually increase the number of flight frequencies and introduce additional destinations, which will definitely further boost our trade and people-to-people contacts.
DNH: The Turkish Embassy and Daily News Hungary have long enjoyed a constructive relationship. What would you like to say directly to our readers as you leave Budapest?
Ekşioğlu: Daily News Hungary is among the prominent platforms that one can follow what is happening in Hungary in different languages, which helps very much, especially for foreign readers. We were very glad to establish a fruitful collaboration with Daily News Hungary.
Our collaboration brought more visibility for Türkiye in Hungary. Thank you very much for being one of our partners, and I wish all your readers the best.
If you missed it: New Wizz Air route puts Türkiye’s capital on the map for Hungarians as direct flights launch!
