“It must be realised that the security of the European Union begins with the stability of Turkey, in view of the fact that in exchange for 3 billion euros the EU decided to entrust the halting of the wave of migration to Turkey”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday following an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Valetta, Malta.
Mr. Szijjártó indicated that the most important topic of discussion at the meeting had been Turkey and future relations between the EU and Ankara.
“We must refrain from criticising Ankara and we must maintain dialogue, because this is not only in the economic interests of the European Union, but also in its fundamental security interests”, he highlighted, explaining that if Turkey’s stability falters then it will become extremely difficult to adhere to the agreement, and millions of immigrants could set out from Turkey along the Western Balkan migration route.
“It is clear that if a wave of immigrants sets out from Turkey then they would arrive at Hungary’s southern border within a very short space of time having met very little resistance”, the Minister explained, adding that the rocking of Turkish instability and the continuous criticism of Turkey represented the endangering of the EU-Turkey agreement and could result in millions of immigrants soon arriving at Hungary’s southern border.
With regard to the constitutional referendum held in Turkey two weeks ago, Mr. Szijjártó stressed that Hungary respects the result of the referendum and accepts that only the Turks can decide on Turkey’s constitutional structure.
“We regard it as very strange that it is the very Western European political elite who let millions of Muslim immigrants into Europe that is now trembling because of developments in Turkey”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
The Minister also spoke about the election campaign, explaining that “for now it was just Turkish ministers who wanted to also campaign in EU member states, but because of the migration policy of recent years leaders from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries will also soon be putting forward similar requests in view of the fact that millions of people from these countries have also arrived in Europe during the past 2-3 years as a result of the EU’s migration policy”. “It will be interesting to see whether they too will be banned from campaigning”, Mr. Szijjártó said.