Last week, the President of Turkey and the Prime Minister of Hungary met at the 6th session of the “Turkish-Hungarian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” and agreed to raise bilateral relations from “strategic partnership” to “enhanced strategic partnership”, signing a cooperation agreement, consisting of 17 items. According to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the new partnership is the strongest format of relations in terms of friendship and brotherhood, which are only known to him in diplomatic terms. The expanded agreement aims to increase bilateral trade from $4 billion to $6 billion and further strengthen ties in areas such as the defense industry and energy.

Both countries like to emphasize the “very strong” historical and cultural ties between them, referring (most likely) to the Central Asian origins of the Magyars and Turks, rather than 170 years of Ottoman occupation. At least, the Hungarian prime minister probably thought so when he presented a handsome horse to President Erdogan. The Turkish president is not very well known for his equestrian talents - he fell from a horse 20 years ago and has never been seen on horseback since.

However, common features between the two countries are easier to recognize in their warm relations with Russia and the delay in ratifying Sweden's NATO membership.

Both leaders leave the decision to ratify Sweden's membership to their parliaments, as both countries are theoretically democratic. And in practice, their parliaments do not make their own decisions, but only support those adopted by the leaders themselves.

In principle, they also agree that violence is not the solution to the war in Palestine and Ukraine. For example, Hungary is blocking EU financial assistance to Ukraine, which would definitely help end the war. And several Turkish companies have been sanctioned by the United States - for selling components to Russia that can be used in the production of weapons, such as ball bearings, electronic integrated circuits and navigation aids.

On the other hand, Hungary fully supports Israel in its war against Hamas, while Turkey perceives Hamas as a liberation group, not a terrorist organization. Although Hungary is the first EU country to open a trade office in Jerusalem, their trade is only about $0.5 billion. On the other hand, Turkey's trade with Israel has already grown significantly and amounts to 8.9 billion dollars. In addition, despite all the loud criticism and condemnation of Israel, their volume of trade in November is equal to the annual volume between Hungary and Israel.

This does not mean that Turkey does not apply any sanctions against Israel.

For example, Turks buy a soft drink in bulk, which is considered an Israeli product, and throw it out on the street. Other products are, of course, boycotted or forced to boycott. In addition, a coffee shop franchise believed to be associated with Jews has also become a target, and its customers are intimidated into pouring their coffee and leaving the premises.

At the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war of principles (Russia's principle is to convince Ukrainians that they are in fact Russians), Turkey supplied Ukraine with Bayraktar drones and thus at the same time advertised its product and demonstrated commitment to Western values.

However, the principle allowed Turkey not to participate in anti-Russian sanctions. Instead, imports of Russian oil and petroleum products at reduced prices help the Turkish economy. It is estimated that in 2023, the Turkish economy will save about $2 billion in electricity bills.

Trade between the countries is scarce for Turkey, as its imports from Russia amount to about $58 billion. However, since the beginning of the war, Turkish exports to Russia have increased by 88%. This good news, unfortunately, has a bitter side. The United States suspects that Turkish exports of dual-purpose goods, which can also be used in the production of cruise missiles, drones and helicopters, are also increasing. This suspicion does not make Turkey a major supplier, as China exports 80% of its most important goods to the Russian market, but several Turkish companies and individuals are already under US sanctions. Despite this, on November 25, Turkey and Russia announced an increase in total trade to $100 billion.

The egg crisis in Russia has already provided a great opportunity to take a step towards this goal. The Russian news agency TASS reported that the first Turkish companies began exporting chicken eggs to Russia. According to the agency, Turkey produces about 70 million chicken eggs annually and ranks ninth in the world in this field. This is good news for Turkey, but bad for the Turkish people. According to this information, since the population of Turkey is 84.78 million, they have already had fewer eggs per year per person, and now they will have to eat even less.

I wonder what kind of world we would live in if countries in principle did not have any principles.