BUDAPEST, Hungary

Hungary’s prime minister said Tuesday the Muslim population in Western Europe has increased and Islam acquired new areas on the continent.

"The irregular migrants want to live at the quality of Hungarian, French and German; but they want to live by their own rules," said Viktor Orban following the inauguration of a Middle-East research center in Piliscsaba.

Orban, known for his anti-migrant stance, he said Hungarians had been part of the West for a millennium but never forgot their Eastern origins and he was "proud" of it.

He went on to note Islamic civilization had introduced valuable and respected inventions to global civilization, particularly in mathematics and medical science.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas