Hungary’s Orbán to host Turkish, Serbian and other leaders alongside world track championships

By BELA SZANDELSZKY
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will hold bilateral meetings in the coming days with the leaders of Turkey, Serbia, Qatar and a host of Central Asian nations, a sign of the European country’s continuing drift toward the Eastern sphere of influence. The meetings come as the capital, Budapest, hosts the 2023 World Athletics Championships. The lineup of guests, devoid of any leaders from Hungary’s allies in the European Union and NATO, reflects Orbán’s push to increase diplomatic and political cooperation with autocracies in the Balkans and Central Asia. Orbán’s most high-profile meeting will be with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he will discuss security, defense and economic cooperation.