Authors

Tatiana Safonova¹;  ¹ Comenius University, Slovakia

Discussion

The Kurultaj festival in Hungary is a unique populist event that brings together people from Hungary, Türkiye, and other Turkic-speaking countries of Central Asia to celebrate the traditions of the so-called Turanic people. The festival is known for its magnificent performances of re-enactors, nomadic archaeological exhibitions assembled inside yurts, and diplomatic ceremonies stylized as medieval rites. The festival promotes cultural policy and soft-power diplomacy of the Hungarian government. One of the most controversial topics discussed at the festival in 2022 was Russia's role in the war against Ukraine and the need to express solidarity with Crimean Tatars. Even though the Hungarian government was the main sponsor of the festival, organizers and participants were not afraid to challenge the position of the Orban's government. This openness and willingness to discuss controversial topics at such a venue pose the question of whether the Kurultaj festival is just a tool for the government to disseminate its current agenda, or it is a laboratory where it experiments under fully controlled conditions with various alternative populist narratives.