Hungary hails defense industry cooperating with Turkey

By Mehmet Yilmaz

BUDAPEST (AA) - Hungary’s foreign minister on Monday praised the cooperation between his country and Turkey in the defense industry, underling that Turkey is a NATO member.

Peter Szijjarto was speaking after his meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Budapest, capital of Hungary.

Responding to a question about cooperation between Hungary and Turkey, Szijjarto said: “Please do not forget when you are talking about Turkey that it is a NATO member."

“So, naturally we cooperate with Turkey in the defense industry. Of course, we will continue this cooperation in the future,” he added.

He also spoke about Hungary’s attitude towards Turkey’s anti-terror Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria. “Neither Germany nor any other country has any influence on our stance on Turkish activities in Syria. At this point, we stand for the interests of the Hungarians,” Szijjarto said.

On Oct. 11, Gergely Gulyas, the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff had said: "Turkey’s newly launched cross-border operation in northern Syria should be supported, provided that the country aims to facilitate the safe return of the nearly 4 million Syrian refugees it is hosting.”

Szijjarto also stressed that Hungary will not accept any agreement on the distribution of migrants among the members of the European Union (EU).

Germany’s foreign minister reminded his country’s suspension of arms export to Turkey and said: “Turkey is an important NATO member and should remain as it is, but we also expect from Turkey to act as a NATO member.”

Maas also responded to a question on a proposal on taking back German citizens, who are the members of terrorist group Daesh, also known as ISIS. “We do not have definite information from Turkey about the deportation of captured Daesh members,” he said.

“First of all, it should be determined which country they are citizens of. If these people are German citizens and they want to come back, then they must be admitted back and they should face trial," he said.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin