Last year Prime Minister Orbán declared that “Hungarians see themselves as the late descendants of Attila the Hun,” and the country’s citizens are proud of their Hun-Turkic origins and their language which is related to the Turkic languages. Orbán also reminded his audience that there was a time when it was an insult to say that Hungary was Europe’s most westerly Eastern people; now given the admirable achievements of the Turkic countries, calling Hungarians an Eastern people is a form of praise.
Not everybody agrees. Credible linguists claim that the Hungarian language belongs to the Finn-Ugric language family. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences and top liberal arts university ELTE believe that the “relationship among the Hungarian, Finnish and Lapp languages could be accounted for by the fact that these peoples were the descendants of an ancient great nation” the Uralian peoples. (Read more here.)
The Hungarian Turanism movement started in the 19th century and claimed that Hungarian people are the descendants of the peoples of the East, mainly Central Asia. In the 20th century the movement was connected to Hungarian fascism. Turanists argued that they were racially superior to other Europeans who were “corrupted by Judaism” and Hungary is a bridge between East and West. Fascist leader Ferenc Szálasi, head of the Arrow Cross movement believed that, due to its unique historical and geographical position. Hungary would play a role equal to, or even more important than Germany in building the new European order. Turanist (Turkic) Hungary is destined to be the mediator between East and West and Szálasi argued that neither fascist Italy nor Nazi Germany were prepared to accomplish this unique task.
Hungarian Turanism is in fashion again and linguistics is not a science anymore; everything is politics in Budapest. On 20 November an international conference entitled, “TURKPA in the First Ten Years and the Future of Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation: New Approaches to Cooperation” was held in Izmir, Turkey. TURKPA is the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries. Besides Turkey, diplomats and scientists came from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Hungary was represented by Mr. László Kövér, Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly. He addressed the opening session, expressing his deep pleasure that Hungary is now officially part of the assembly of Turkic speaking countries. “Our Turkic brothers have accepted us as one of them,” Kövér said. Hungary has been an observer of the group since 2014 and member of the Turkic Council since September of this year.
Well folks, the Hungarian language is now officially a Turkic language and will stay that way while Mr. Orbán is in power. After that, I cannot guarantee it.
György Lázár