2/ 🤝 The HU-TR cooperation is rooted in shared anti-Western rhetoric, the revival of Hungary's Turkic identity and political isolation in the West. It manifests in promoting Turkey's energy-hub ambitions and cooperation in international organizations such as NATO and the EU.

3/ 🌏 HU revived myths around its “Turkic” identity, and even joined the Organization of Turkic States as an observer in 2018. Beyond the potential economic benefits of this connection, the HU gov. has used its "Easternness" to justify increasing non-alignment with EU norms.

4/ ⚡ HU supports TR's energy hub ambitions, but this also prolongs its own dependence on Russian gas. More importantly, using the TurkStream to import Russian gas hurts other EU member states' attempts to weaken Russia by voluntarily diversifying away from Moscow's gas sales.

5/ 🏛️ In NATO and the EU, HU has become TR's advocate, and HU supports TR's EU integration agenda despite TR's misalignment with EU conditionality. Although the EU itself has also turned transactional, HU's behavior does not facilitate the return to the rules-based order.

6/ The report is the result of months of research, including interviews in Budapest, Istanbul and Ankara as part of my Mercator-IPC Fellowship. If you’re interested in the foreign policy of semi-authoritarian states, or Hungary-Turkey relations, give it a read!