Two NATO allies are not on the invitation list for the US-led Democracy Summit: Turkey and Hungary, Foreign Policy reports.
"As for Turkey and Hungary, we are committed to further strengthening our relations with both countries. Both are important NATO allies and we work together on many common issues," one of the organisers said. Despite this, Hungary was not invited to the event.
The March 28-30 Democracy Summit will include face-to-face and virtual events in Washington and four partner countries – Costa Rica, South Korea, the Netherlands and Zambia. The event will be attended by US President Joe Biden, among others.
As in previous years, the summit will focus on fighting authoritarian regimes, fighting corruption and promoting human rights. A similar democracy summit was held nearly a year and a half ago with the participation of 110 countries, but Hungary was not invited then either. "We don't need anyone to judge the state of Hungarian democracy as if it were a graduation exam", Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said then in response to Hungary not being on the list of invitees.
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