At the inauguration of the institute dedicated to the research of Islam and to boosting political and economic ties between Hungary and Islamic countries, Orbán said, “Islamic culture has conquered new territories” and “the number of Muslims settling in isolated blocks in western European cities is steadily growing”.

“The East has come to the West,” Orbán said, adding that researchers should now study “what happens in the West as well as in the East”. Hence, oriental studies have a strategic reach, he said.

Europe is under the “political illusion” that people arriving from Islamic countries will not transfer to Europe the “laws, customs and conflicts that have been present in that culture for centuries,” Orbán said.

Migrants coveting a German, French or Hungarian lifestyle want to obtain that on their own terms, Orbán said. “Is Europe prepared for that? Can it guarantee peaceful coexistence?” he asked.

The Hungarian solution, taking help to where the trouble is, is the only one that allows all parties to keep their identities, he said.

Regarding the Avicenna Institute, Orbán noted that the internationally acclaimed institute had waited for 15 years to receive a worthy campus with a building designed by renowned Hungarian architect Imre Makovecz.

Hungarians’ roots in oriental cultures are present in its words of Turkish and Persian roots, in cuisine, folk art, music and literature, Orbán said.

Getting to know other cultures is known to strengthen the commitment to one’s own, Orbán said.

He expressed hope that the Avicenna Institute will do just that, helping the government and the country “to, strengthened in our Christian, European identity, become good partners with Arab countries.”

MTI Photo: Koszticsák Szilárd