Turkish parliament head meets Hungarian counterpart

By Mehmet Yilmaz

BUDAPEST

Turkey’s parliament speaker on Monday met with his Hungarian counterpart in its capital Budapest, where he is paying an official visit.

Turkey’s Binali Yildirim said they had a chance to discuss all subjects, including Turkish-Hungarian relations, following up from his counterpart Laszlo Kover’s visit to Turkey around a month ago.

Dec. 18 marks the 95th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, making today's visit more meaningful, he told reporters after their meeting at the parliament building.

“We stand together with Hungary in NATO, too. Hungary has always had a positive attitude towards Turkey’s [bid for] membership in the European Union, we thank them for this,” Yildirim said.

Stating that after this June’s elections, the first visit Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid to an EU country was Hungary, he added: “I’m also realizing my first visit to Hungary, among EU member countries, as the parliament speaker of the new assembly.

“These visits show how much importance Turkey places on relations with Hungary.”

Yildirim said a Turkey-Hungary High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council will be held next year, co-chaired by Erdogan and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Kover, for his part, thanked Yildirim for his visit amid his busy schedule and added that the visit carries a symbolic meaning due to the upcoming anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

“Apart from the Visegrad Group [Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia] and neighboring countries, Hungary has its most active foreign ties with Turkey.

“It is also a sign of sympathy we have for each other,” Kover said.

Later, Yildirim also held an inter-delegation, closed-door meeting with Orban.