With Hungary and Turkey banned, U.S. hosts divided democracy summit

The Biden administration’s decision to exclude Turkey and Hungary from a major international summit this week has caused a rift between the U.S. and the two NATO members, threatening to overshadow an event intended to showcase the strength of democracies around the world.

By declining to invite Turkey and Hungary to its Summit for Democracy, the administration drew attention to underlying tensions in the Western alliance supporting Ukraine against Russia.

The controversy also underscored the inherent challenges the administration faces in choosing which countries to invite and which to snub, a role that has positioned America under President Joe Biden, who launched the summit, as the doorkeeper to the club of worldwide democracies.

Senior administration officials downplayed the significance of Turkey and Hungary’s exclusion from the summit.

“They’re NATO allies, and we’re going to continue to work together with them on lots of different issues of mutual concern,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday on a call with reporters. “At the same time, we’re committed to supporting democratic institutions, human rights, rule of law, [and] media freedom.”

Other U.S. officials insisted the guest list wasn’t meant to be a seal of approval. Approximately 120 nations were invited to participate in the three-day summit, which began Tuesday and will consist of a mix of in-person and virtual meetings between world leaders and senior government officials on topics ranging from strengthening human rights to fighting corruption.

The U.S. is co-hosting the summit along with Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Zambia.

“This is a summit for democracy, it’s not necessarily a summit of democracies,” Rob Berschinski, the National Security Council’s senior director for democracy and human rights, said last week at a forum previewing the summit.

“Despite the fact that we are pitching an extraordinarily large tent, we need to draw the line somewhere,” Berschinski said.

Yet drawing the line at Turkey and Hungary for the second straight time—both countries were also excluded from the first Summit for Democracy, which was held in 2021—risks angering two countries that have been caught between Russia and the West.

Turkey has emerged as a diplomatic bridge between the West and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has become a pariah on the world stage after launching the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Unlike most of his Western counterparts, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has maintained a direct line of contact to Putin since the start of the war. Erdoğan urged Putin to end the war in a call between the two leaders last week.

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Last year, Turkey helped broker a deal between the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia to allow Ukrainian grain exports to leave the country. The deal was extended earlier this month.

Turkey also played a pivotal role last year in Finland and Sweden’s applications to join NATO. Turkey held up the applications initially, citing national security concerns. But Ankara ultimately dropped its objections, paving the way for the Nordic nations to move forward with their plans to join the security alliance.

But Turkey has also faced criticism for democratic backsliding under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A European Commission report on Turkey last year raised concerns about the decline of democratic institutions and the rise of centralized government power in the country.

“There are serious deficiencies in the functioning of [Turkey’s] democratic institutions,” the report concluded. The commission’s report cited a “deterioration of human and fundamental rights” and “serious backsliding” on freedom of expression.

Democracy and human rights groups have also raised concerns about Hungary in the years since President Viktor Orban took power.

Under Orban, the longest-serving head of state in the European Union, Hungary has passed sweeping constitutional reforms cementing his right-wing party’s grip on power. Last year the European Parliament approved a resolution declaring that Hungary has become an “electoral autocracy.”

Orban has declined to provide military assistance to Ukraine, and opposed some EU measures to aid Kyiv.

Hungary is also one of three Central European nations that received an exemption from an EU embargo on Russian crude oil exports. Hungary, which relies on Russian natural gas, has kept up close energy ties with Moscow despite a tough economic sanctions regime imposed by the U.S. and its allies.

Turkish and Hungarian officials did not respond to a Newsweek request for comment about not receiving an invitation to the summit for democracy.

Hungary responded angrily when it was excluded from the first summit in 2021, asking the EU not to participate in the summit.

This year, eight additional countries were invited to participate: Honduras, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Tanzania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein.

“Those that were newly invited in 2023 demonstrated clear political will to bolster the themes of the summit,” Kirby said.

Biden is scheduled to address a gathering of world leaders at the summit Wednesday.

Tom O’Connor contributed reporting to this story.