Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary has travelled to Ankara, Türkiye today, 12 December, to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye. The bilateral talks have commenced between the two statesmen, Press Secretary for the Prime Minister Bertalan Havasi has informed the Hungarian news agency MTI. The meeting is taking place at the Presidential Complex in Ankara; as is attended by Foreign Ministers Péter Szijjártó of Hungary and Hakan Fidan of Türkiye as well.
The potential peace in the Russo-Ukrainian war and in the Middle East is the main topic of conversation, Havasi reports, which has continued during lunch as well. The two sides are also discussing possibilities to improve bilateral relations. The Press Secretary also reminded that the closing event of the Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Year will take place in Ankara in the evening, with more than 150 events organized in the two countries combined during the year.
President Erdoğan is the third high-profile world leader Prime Minister Orbán is having talks with this week. He visited US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday; then had a lengthy phone conversation with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Wednesday. In addition, PM Orbán met with Pope Francis in Vatican City last week, on what he calls his ‘peace mission,’ laying the diplomatic groundwork for a negotiated peace in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
On that topic, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás has claimed at a press briefing also held today that ‘it is a realistic goal to have the first ceasefire and armistice during the Christmas holidays’ in the Russo-Ukrainian war. ‘The Prime Minister has held talks with Pope Francis in the Vatican, with US President-elect Donald Trump in the United States, and with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and will hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday for this very reason,’ Minister Gulyás added.
Gulyás remains optimistic about a Christmas truce despite President Zelenskyy of Ukraine rejecting such a scenario on Wednesday, according to a message posted by PM Orbán on X (formerly Twitter). Minister Gulyás called the current administration in Kyiv ‘uncertain in the matter of peace and war’.
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