TURKPA plenary session kicks off in Turkey's Izmir

By Halil Sahin

IZMIR (AA) - The 8th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TURKPA) started Tuesday in Turkey’s Aegean province of Izmir.

The assembly, where Anadolu Agency is the official Host Photographer, was organized by the Turkish parliament.

Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim attended the session along with his counterparts from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkish Cyprus and Hungary.

As part of the program, the member-country parliament speakers gathered at the closed-door meeting of TURKPA's Council of Assembly.

Following the meeting, the speakers of the parliament are to hold bilateral meetings.

The first plenary session of the TURKPA was conducted in Baku in Sept. 2009, with its secretariat authority based in the same city.

TURKPA is an international organization established in Istanbul in Nov. 2008, according to the agreement signed by the heads of parliaments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

* Jeyhun Aliyev contributed to this story from Ankara