Delegation of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control met with the leadership of the Turkish Grand National Assembly

Issues of cooperation between the two parliaments at the level of relevant committees and commissions were discussed at the meetings. The agreement on such cooperation was reached during a visit of State Duma Chairman Viacheslav Volodin to Turkey in October
Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control Vasilii Piskarev
Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control Vasilii Piskarev

A delegation of the State Duma Committee on Security and Corruption Control, headed by Chairman Vasilii Piskarev Piskarev Vasily Ivanovich Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
, held talks with the Vice-Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Şentop in Ankara.

At the meeting issues of cooperation between the two parliaments at the level of relevant committees and commissions were discussed. The agreement on this was reached during the visit of the Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin Volodin Vyacheslav Victorovich Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
to Turkey in October 2018. A visit of members of the Security and Corruption Control Committee to Ankara opens a series of such meetings.

The sides noted the high level of inter-parliamentary cooperation between Russia and Turkey, which reflects the great mutual interest of our countries in developing contacts at different levels and in many areas, primarily in the fight against international terrorism, drug trafficking, in ensuring international and regional security.

The Russian parliamentarians also met with Chairman of the Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on Security and Intelligence Selami Altınok and Chairman of the Commission on Internal Affairs Celalettin Güvenç'den.

The Chairman of the Committee, Vasilii Piskarev, reminded the previous meeting with Celalettin Güvenç'den, which was held in December 2017. Then the parliamentarians ascertained the coincidence of positions in the sphere of countering the spread of drugs, noting that not a single country, not a single city, not a single family is protected from the drug threat. Vasilii Piskarev stressed that international cooperation in this area needs to be active.

To sum up ten-year anti-drug work a session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is scheduled for March 2019.

“The efforts made have not brought the desired effect. The parliamentarians, who will gather for an international anti-drug conference at the end of next year in Moscow, could find and propose new solutions during the joint work,” added Vasilii Piskarev.

Russian and Turkish parliamentarians also discussed countering terrorism issues, noting that the risk of terrorist organizations and militants from Syria entering Afghanistan and other countries of this region under the guise of migrants preserves.

The two countries focus on solving common problems: countering the recruitment of young people into the terrorist's organizations, curbing the channels of distribution of weapons and drugs, and neutralizing the threat of cyber-terrorism. Cooperation in this sphere at the level of legislators can give new impetus to the development of bilateral and multilateral relations, parliamentarians noted during the meeting.

At the same time, Vasilii Piskarev added that the development of new promising formats of parliamentary cooperation at the level of relevant parliamentary committees and commissions is of great importance.

Work in this direction will continue. In particular, in the first half of 2019, it is proposed to hold a conference on cybersecurity with the participation of colleagues from Turkey, Iran, China and other countries organized by the State Duma Committee on Security and Corruption Control in Moscow.

Turkish parliamentarians expressed gratitude to Russia for support and a clear position during the attempted coup d'etat in Turkey in July 2016. The members of the Russian delegation were given a tour around the building of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and showed damage to the facade, which was made during an attempted coup d'etat.

The visit of the delegation of the State Duma to the Republic of Turkey takes place from 21 to 23 November.