Turkish parliament speaker meets head of Inter-Parliamentary Union

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop met on Tuesday Duarte Pacheco, the head of Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organization of national parliaments, and said he closely follows its activities.

"We make an effort to attend all meetings of the IPU and carefully examine its reports," Sentop said in the meeting held in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Sentop said Turkey attaches great importance to inter-parliamentary relations, and that the IPU is "among the oldest and most influential" parliamentary unions.

According to the IPU, what began in 1889 as a small group of parliamentarians, dedicated to promoting peace through parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue, has since grown into a "truly global organization of national parliaments."

Today it has 179 Member Parliaments, 13 Associate Members, and an increasing number of parliamentarians from all over the world are involved in its work.

Pacheco acknowledged Turkey's efforts to improve inter-parliamentary relations, saying "I fully believe that we will work together."

After the meeting, he visited sections of the Turkish parliament which were bombed during the defeated coup of July 15, 2016.

"We have commemorated once again, our martyrs and veterans with gratitude and blessing," Sentop said in a tweet.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the attempted coup, which killed 251 people, and injured nearly 2,200 others.

Turkey accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.