“Hungarians helped the people of Türkiye at the time of the earthquakes and will continue to help them in the coming period, too,” President Katalin Novák told a press conference held together with her Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday. The Hungarian Ecumenical Charity has sent donations of a total 100 million forints (EUR 262,900) to Türkiye, while Hungary is also sending 100 tonnes of medicines and medical equipment to earthquake-hit parts of that country, the president said. The talks between the two presidents touched upon the war in Ukraine, illegal migration, the enlargement of the European Union and of NATO, as well as energy cooperation and demographic challenges, Novák said. Novák also said she and Erdoğan would jointly open a Türkiye-Hungary cultural year in December, to mark the centenary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Erdoğan said Türkiye and Azerbaijan were prepared to give Hungary all the support it needed in terms of its gas supply. Concerning Turkish-Hungarian ties, he thanked Hungary for the support it provided in the search and rescue efforts following the earthquake, noting that the Hungarian teams rescued 35 people from the rubble. As regards the war, Erdoğan urged peace talks and an end to the conflict.