ABSTRACT
Hungary engages in a peculiar “multi-vectorism” in its foreign policy and applies these principles in its search for natural gas. In the pursuit of this goal, Budapest is actively flirting with Moscow and demonstrating its contempt for Brussels. At the same time, Budapest has also looked for alternative sources of gas in the Caucasus. And Baku emerged here as the most likely backup. The Hungarian-Azerbaijanian relationship has been a reflection of this new trend in global affairs, which was predicated on the absence of a clear global centre or even centres. In the new international environment, small states often have considerable room for manoeuvres, albeit not all countries could do this easily.
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Notes
1. Kagan elaborated on this story, first in articles, and later enlarged it into a book. See Kagan (Citation2007)7.
2. Ian Cook, for example, noted that “The friend-enemy distinction is one of the most influential concepts of modern politics.” See Cook (Citation2009) p. 215
3. Later, the article was enlarged into a bestselling book, see (Fukuyama Citation1992).
4. “Read Donald Trump’s full inaugural speech,” time.com/4,640,707/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript, 20 January 2017.
5. “Rossiia i Vengriia dogovorilis’ o postavke gaza v 2020 godu v obkhod Ukrainy,” https://rusenergy.com/ru/news/news.php?id=80950, 22 March 2019.
6. “U.S. warns Hungary off buying Russian Turk Stream gas,” https://ahvalnews.com/energy, 13 November 2018.
7. “Bolgariia tianet gaz na sebia,” https://iz.ru/761866, 4 July 2018.
8. “Potok zaleg na dno: kak ‘Gazprom’ za dva goda postroil trubu v Turtsiiu,” https://www.rbc.ru/business/19/11/2018, 19 November 2018.
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12. “Nepriiatno. Nachalo stroitel’stva serbskogo uchastka gazoprovoda – otvoda ot Turetskogo potoka otkladyvaetsia,” https://neftegaz.ru, 16 April 2019.
13. The Times, 17 July 2020.
14. “V Azerbaidzhane zapushchen Iuzhnyi gazovyi koridor,” https://www.dev.com, 5 April 2019.
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16. “U.S. warns Hungary off buying Russian Turk Stream gas,” https://ahvalnews.com/energy, 13 November 2018.
17. “Viktor Sederken’i: ‘Vengriia i Azerbaidzhan – strategicheskie partnery’,” https://haggin.az/news/122322, 7 February 2018.
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24. Marzhetskii (Citation2018), “Stanet li Vengriiu kruprym gazovym khabom v Tsentral’noi Evrope?” https://www.dev.com, 5 April 2019.
25. “Turkic Council commemorates victims of 1918 genocide of Azerbaijanians,” Daily Sabah, 31 March 2021.
26. Ibid. See also Mamedov (Citation2021), “Azerbaijan kicks off gas exports to Russia-dominated European market,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 31 December 2020.
27. “Nazvana data prisoedineniia Vengrii k proektu ‘Iuzhnyi gazovyi koridor’,” Praim, 10 March 2021.
28. “Vengriia zhdet gaz iz Turkmenistana i Azerbaidzhana,” Arzuw NEWS, 13 March 2021.
29. “Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan finally reach deal on lucrative Caspian Sea Energy Field,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 21 January 2021.
30. “Chair of Azerbaijani parliament speaks at Turkic Council’s office in Budapest,” Trend News, 29 June 2021.
31. “PM Orbán meets Azerbaijan Parl’t Head,” Hungary Today, 30 June 2021. See also: “Azerbaijani parliament’s delegation starts official visit to Hungary,” Azernews, 12 July 2021; “Hungary getting closer to access Azerbaijani gas,” Trend News, 9 July 2021.
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Dmitry Shlapentokh
Dmitry Shlapentokh was educated both in the USSR and the USA (Ph.D., University of Chicago). He teaches history at Indiana University South Bend, USA.