Péter Szijjártó said at his press conference held at the Liszt Ferenc Airport that, based on the method employed and the number of victims, the events of the night „can be described as acts of terrorism”.

The Minister said that according to the latest information, there was no Hungarian killed or injured in the coup attempt in Turkey.

He stressed: Turkey is a friend and strategic ally of Hungary, and Hungary is showing solidarity with the democratically elected government in Turkey and the Turkish President.

Mr Szijjártó told the press that he spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Cavusoglu in the morning who told him that the Turkish Government and the central forces have regained control, and „are keeping the situation under control”. A well-organised, but isolated part of the army carried out the coup attempt and tried to seize power, the Hungarian Minister cited the words of the Turkish Foreign Minister.

Mr Szijjártó said: 143 Hungarian citizens currently in Turkey registered via the consular services during the night, and their number has increased to 175 since.

The Minister emphatically requested the Hungarians who are currently staying in Turkey not to leave their accommodation in Istanbul or Ankara if not absolutely necessary, and to register via the Ministry’s consular line. The consular services will take calls around the clock for several more days, Mr Szijjártó added. There is relative calm in the seaside holiday areas in Turkey, and chartered flights are also operational.

He also highlighted that they are not changing Turkey’s travel rating. If there is any change, they will publish the relevant information. The Minister, who held his press conference upon his return from the Asia-Europe Meeting held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, further reported that there was shooting in the street next to the Hungarian Embassy in Ankara, but the target of these attacks was not the building or employees of the Embassy.

He said: according to expert evaluations, the pro-coup forces are not likely to intentionally turn against foreigners in an organised fashion. In answer to a question, Mr Szijártó said that if air travel is not restored, they are able to help Hungarians with the rebooking of their flights.

In answer to another question, the Minister said that an event like this cannot affect the relationship of Turkey and the European Union as Europe has a vested interest in Turkey remaining a stable state. „If possible, we must render our ties with Turkey’s democratically elected President and Government even closer now”, he said, adding that the current President and Government are the pledge of stability.

He said that the Turkish Government now has a very important task in hand: guaranteeing the stability of the army.
Upon talking about the terrorist attack which occurred on Thursday in Nice, Mr Szijjártó confirmed that there are no Hungarian citizens among either the dead, or the critically injured according to the latest information.

Photo: Zoltán Máthé/MTI

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.