The Hungarian government denied information that appeared in one of the local media that Syrian President Bashar Assad allegedly arrived in Budapest fleeing the armed opposition in his country.
„This is fake news”, the government information center said about the publication in the online publication Magyar Hang. “The photo used in this post is taken from an article from 2012”, the agency quoted the news center as saying.MTI
Magyar Hang claims that Assad has appealed through diplomatic channels to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for help and may arrive in Budapest with his family and close circle. The publication said that a “mysterious Syrian plane”, which may have brought Assad, landed at Budapest's Ferenc Liszt International Airport on Saturday evening.
The management of the airport in the capital of Hungary said that it “does not receive or serve any Syrian aircraft”.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara had no contact with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite the Turkish leadership's calls for dialogue. "No, we have not had any meetings with him, there have been no contacts with Assad,” Fidan said at a press conference in Doha, broadcast by Turkish television. This is how he responded to the question of whether the Assad administration has responded to Turkey's proposals to discuss the situation and whether there have been contacts in recent days.
"Turkey, together with neighboring countries, to work with the new administration in Damascus, using all means at its disposal to restore and resolve Syria's problems.