Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş held a series of bilateral meetings on Friday with his counterparts from Russia, Georgia, Luxembourg and others, focusing on parliamentary cooperation as well as regional and global developments.
The talks took place on the sidelines of the 152nd assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, hosted in Istanbul.
In his meeting with the Russian Parliament speaker, Kurtulmuş welcomed Federation Council Chair Valentina Matviyenko and said he hoped the gathering would deepen dialogue. He pointed to close ties between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin as a driver of cooperation across multiple fields, and said parliamentary engagement could further strengthen relations.
Kurtulmuş reiterated Ankara’s opposition to unilateral sanctions on Russia, arguing they carry broader political and humanitarian consequences. He also highlighted the importance Türkiye places on Moscow’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling for stronger international efforts to halt Israel’s actions in Palestinian territories.
Matviyenko said her recent meeting with Erdoğan had been productive and credited leadership-level contacts for advancing bilateral ties. She added that closer parliamentary coordination would help expand cooperation and reaffirmed Russia’s backing of a two-state solution.
In talks with Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, Kurtulmuş stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Caucasus. He called for strengthening the Türkiye-Georgia-Azerbaijan trilateral mechanism and suggested broader regional cooperation could be pursued with Armenia’s inclusion.
He also underlined the goal of increasing bilateral trade to $5 billion and described the Middle Corridor as strategically important for both commerce and regional stability. Kurtulmuş said lasting peace in the Black Sea, Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and Caucasus would contribute to wider prosperity.
Papuashvili, for his part, welcomed the opportunity to attend the IPU gathering and expressed condolences over the victims of a recent school attack in Türkiye.
During a separate meeting with Luxembourg’s parliament speaker Claude Wiseler, Kurtulmuş emphasized the value of stronger cooperation between NATO allies, particularly in defense. He also highlighted Türkiye’s diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and its preference for dialogue in addressing regional tensions.
Kurtulmuş criticized Israel’s actions in the region and underscored the importance of recent moves by several Western countries, including Luxembourg, to recognize Palestine, saying such steps help sustain momentum toward a two-state solution.
