Hungary to take 'necessary steps' against FETO movement

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said the country will take "necessary steps" against Fetullah Terror Organization (FETO)-linked schools and individuals.

"We have already started investigation regarding private schools and the persons attached," Szijjarto told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

"I can assure you that if it turns out that these persons and institutions have been in close contact with the Gulenist movement and if they embody a threat to the security of Turkey, Hungary, and Europe, then we will take necessary steps without a doubt," he added.

Szijjarto also said Hungary will tell Turkey as soon as the investigation is concluded.

A total of 240 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 injured during the July 15 coup attempt, which the Turkish government blames on followers of Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his FETO network.

- Refugee crisis

Szijjarto also said the European Union has been struggling with "tremendous" difficulties and challenges, adding: "I think that the EU was not able to give a good response to migration because our position is that we should not speak about the redistribution of the migrants."

"But we have to speak about the reduction of the burden on the EU and to speak about how to stop the migration wave towards Europe," he said.

Szijjarto said migrants and refugees are not the same thing. "There are two totally different categories. Refugees are not migrants. What has been hitting Europe is not a refugee crisis but a migration crisis," he added.

Austria and Germany last year witnessed their biggest refugee crisis in decades, as hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly from conflict regions in the Middle East and Africa, arrived in these countries.

EU members Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland have declined to accept more refugees, drawing sharp criticism from Germany and Austria.

- Building a mosque in Budapest

Asked if the Hungarian government will build a mosque in Budapest, Szijjarto first spoke of his “pride” in the Turkish community living in Hungary.

"There have been some negotiations about assigning a place to a possible mosque but there has been no forward progress," he added.

Szijjarto said talks between the governments are continuing.

"What we have been doing now is following … reconstruction work on the Turkish cultural heritage sides in Budapest and in the countryside as well," he said.

According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, there are approximately 3,000 Turkish citizens living in Hungary. Szijjarto said there are 869 students studying in Hungary.