Why Hungary Wants Turkey to Join the EU

Hungary and Turkey haven't historically been close friends, but recent years have seen Erdogan and Orban grow increasingly close. So in this video we unpack why Turkey and Hungary are such good friends - and if the budding bromance could grow further.

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00:00 Introduction
01:01 Ideologies
03:41 Politics
06:37 Economics
07:47 Will the Friendship Last?
08:12 Sponsor

[Wisteria]

The people of Hungary are very good people, they are also kind and gentle, we love Hungary very much from Turkiye 🇹🇷❤️🇭🇺

[kuil]

When I’m hungry I would enjoy turkey. It’s common sense.

[nileshkumaraswamy]

Fun fact: Turkish and Hungarian are among the few non-Indo-European languages spoken on the European continent.

[LAMERFENER]

I have visited Budapest last year, I was surprised the similarity of the vibe between Istanbul and Budapest, without knowing the very old historical ties between turks and hungarians.

[PamirAnduril]

There are also historical reasons. Magyars (Hungarians) and Turks lived side by side before Hungarians migrate to Europe and we migrate to Anatolia. Some people in Turkey and Hungary suggest that we are one nation and Hungary is also a Turan/Turkic state. Even Victor Orban said that they are coming from Turks. This is not the main reason why we became allies but it really helped to convince some people in respective countries.

[Slaci-vlio]

I'm Hungarian. Congrats, good video in all details. Even mentioning Péter Magyar at the end was a good addition. Everybody talks about him in Hungary.

[svart]

Turkey is geopolitically and militarily a very important nation. It is impossible to ignore Turkey.

[balporsugu.]

A lot of Turkic tribes like Huns, Onogurs, Cumans, Pechenegs are assimilated into Hungarian society.

[OrbanamagyarKimDzsongUn]

2023 in Hungary, in numbers:
- In January, bread inflation was almost 82%, food inflation was over 48%, general inflation was 26.2%, three times the EU average!
- In the first quarter, real wages fell the most in Hungary with a 15.6%, which is 4 times of OECD average
- In July our money lost 36% of its value in 2 years due to inflation !!!
- In January, Lőrinc Mészáros, Orban's main strawman increased the monthly tolls by 72% after he bought the 35-year motorway concession
- Lőrinc Mészáros bought a yacht for 27 billion forints, which is almost 11, 000 years of average Hungarian pension. Mészáros's wealth increased by 150 billion forints in a single year
- The Matolcsy, the head of central bank (MNB), bought an apartment in New York for 14 billion forints, which is equivalent to 5608 years of average Hungarian pensions. Meanwhile, the MNB has accumulated losses of HUF 2400 billion
- The Orbán family's visible! wealth reaches HUF 100 billion, Orbán's father built a mansion in Hatvanpuszta for 10 billion forints
- The cows on János Lázár minister's stud farm got waterbeds for HUF 3 billion from the state!
- In 2023, Romania overtook Hungary in GDP per capita,
- In 2023, Bulgaria overtook Hungary in per capita consumption, making us last in the EU in this respect too.
- Hungary has the 2nd lowest average wage and minimum wage in the EU !
- The Dear Leader has finally found the magic weapon against inflation: he just had to fire the leading statisticians of the Hungarian Statistical Office, put them under the Rogán-led propaganda ministry and the single-digit inflation was achieved...! In 2023, the consumer price index was still 17.6% and food inflation 25.9%.
- In 2023, growth (-0.9%) was the 3rd worst in the EU
- 700 billion forints spent by the government to buy the Vodafone Hungary and give it away to Orban's stooge (equivalent to about 280, 000 years of average Hungarian pensions)
- 2021 foreign human traffickers were released from Hungarian prisons in 2023 (official explaination: keeping them in prison is too expensive)
- There are already 100, 000 Asian migrant workers in Hungary, who are undercutting the wages of Hungarian workers, with their numbers increasing by about 1, 000 a month
- 40% of the Hungarian population run out of money by the end of the month, with no savings
- The Hungarian birth rate has fallen to an all-time low
- OTP survey shows that 94 out of 100 young people do not want to work in Hungary !
- 125, 000 Hungarians already work in Austria
- Half a million Hungarians have disappeared in 10 years, the country's population is below 9.6 million, at 1953 levels and falling
- In 2023 the budget deficit was 4593 billion forints, about 6.5 percent of GDP, more than double the 3 percent accepted by the EU, the Hungarian state paid the largest interest burden after the national debt in the EU to GDP (4.3%), the interest expenses amounted to HUF 3, 500 billion, which is equivalent to 1.26 million years of Hungarian average pension, meanwile GDP growth rate was -0.9%.

[vauiarex]

Hungarian nationalism (the Kuruc-adjacent) actually has a tradition of nominally leaning towards the Ottomans. Rákóczi and Kossuth were both given asylum in the Ottoman empire, Bem even converted to Islam. Not to mention later when turanist ideas became popular on the Hungarian right.

[wrenchax]

Traditionally, Spain, Italy and Poland generally take a positive stance on issues related to Turkey. Hungarians have adopted this behavior in the last 10 years. There has never been this level of contact between the two countries before. Of course, Orban's policy is effective in this. It is in Hungary's interest to adopt a close policy with Turkic countries. If there is such an opportunity, it is most natural to use it :) It is not reasonable to expect Hungarians or all European folk to comply with everything you call European values. It is possible to establish good relations with both the West and the East. I think Hungarians are implementing their own policy of self interest against western politicians who cannot use this.

[freemillenniumideas]

Atilla is one the common name of boys in Turkiye. Both Hungarians and Turks, have nomadic anchestors from Ural-Altay steps.

The religions are different, but linguistic & national & cultural origins are close to each other.

Even if authocrat leaders disappear from the scene, I think these countries that have mainly turanic origion, will support each other.

[ozgurd]

turkey and hungary was not historical enemies.
germans in medieval ages were calling hungarians 'croos carrying turks' basically christian turks.
they mostly sided with ottomans instead of habsburgs.
both in turkey and hungary people have symphaty to eachother.

and way before medieval ages we were both tengrist turkic/nomadic peoples.
thats why hungary is in turkic council.

[krisdaschwab]

Authoritarians gravitate towards authoritarians. Nothing shocking.

[loremaster]

Love and respect Hungary from Türkiye I hope we can improve our relations much more

[danielbagyula]

They are both mafia bosses in their countries, of course they are good friends, they share know-how.

[karasukafka]

One additional here though: the one important right opposition Jobbik also had supported Turkish-Hungarian relation, and several of them served as cultural attache to Turkey.

One thing to be known too: there is a narrative that gestures to the horse nomadic past of both Turkish and Hungarians: Turalism is a thing. So the opposition of the far right against Muslims in Hungary plays up a bit differently than in other Muslim majority countries cases.

[anneeq]

1:22 Erdogan's Türkiye isn't any more nationalistic than the liberal secular opposition. I'm fact it's probably less so given it's liberal immigration and refugee policy.

[SehaCaglar]

You should also consider that Hungarians have Turkic roots

[odenat]

Turkiye is also allied with Bulgaria, Romania and Italy which are EU members. So it is not a bromance like you mentioned. A few years ago, when Greece organized an EU embargo against Turkiye, Bulgaria and Italy vetoed the decision.