Performance of friendship groups disappointing

While there is a plethora of parliamentary friendship groups in the Turkish Parliament with ties to corresponding groups in other countries, the number of reciprocal visits between these groups is disappointingly low.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç launched a new initiative in parliamentary democracy during his term as parliament speaker with a view to lending support to the evolution of Turkish foreign policy. Under his leadership, the number of parliamentary friendship groups was increased so that reciprocal visits could occur between friendly parliaments. The number of these groups rose to 100 after the 2007elections in line with the target of establishing bridges of friendship with virtually every country in the world.

In the wake of the Israeli attack on Gaza in late 2008, in which many innocent civilians were killed, most deputies resigned from the Turkey-Israel parliamentary friendship group in protest against the massacre. Although a few of the deputies from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) did not resign, this group was removed from the official Web site of the Turkish Parliament because of its low membership. This reduced the number of parliamentary friendship groups to 99.

One-sided visits Some visits made by parliamentary friendship groups have been one-sided. There are nine countries which Turkish parliamentary friendship groups have visited whose friendship groups have not traveled to Turkey. On the other hand, friendship groups from 10 countries have visited Turkey without a reciprocal visit by Turkish deputies. Countries that have made an official trip to Turkey but have not hosted an official visit by a Turkish friendship group: Albania (2005), Israel (2002), Spain (2009), Canada (2010), Kazakhstan (2009), Kuwait (2004), Macedonia (1997), Saudi Arabia (2007), Tajikistan (2002) and Thailand (2002). Countries that have not returned an official visit by Turkish deputies: Algeria (2005), China (2004), Jordan (2005), Cuba (2005), Lebanon (2004), Pakistan (2005), Russia (2004), Sudan (2004) and New Zealand (2006).

However, two-thirds of these 99 groups have not paid official visits to their respective countries, according to data provided by Parliament. In defense of the lack of visits, the members of some groups say they have had no time for such visits because they already accompany the president, prime minister and other ministers during their visits abroad, while some note that the data provided by Parliament is not up to date. Celal Erbay, the head of the Turkey-Georgia parliamentary friendship group, noted that according to this data, the last visit of the group to Georgia occurred on March 4, 1997. “I am preparing to pay another visit to Georgia next month. There seems to some information missing from the records. During my time as the head of the group, we have been to Georgia in order to observe the presidential elections on site. We have also been there accompanying State Minister Kürşat Tüzmen. Moreover, we hosted the Turkish parliamentary friendship group from the Georgian Parliament last month. We have good and friendly relations with Georgia on a parliamentary level,” he told Today’s Zaman.

Ramazan Başak, the head of the Turkey-Serbia parliamentary friendship group, said they visited Serbia during President Abdullah Gül’s visit to the country and set up the Serbia- Turkey parliamentary friendship group last year. He also noted that the groups will pay visits to each other’s countries in the coming months. While Saudi Arabia’s Turkish parliamentary friendship group visited Turkey in 2007, the Turkish group has not yet paid a visit to Saudi Arabia. However Karabük deputy Mehmet Ceylan accompanied Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his visit to Saudi Arabia as the president of the friendship group.

According to records, the Macedonia-Turkey parliamentary friendship group last visited Turkey in 1997. However, the president of the Turkey-Macedonia friendship group, Bursa deputy Sedat Kızılcıklı, said the lack of official visits did not mean there was no dialogue between the groups. Noting that Macedonia’s Turkish parliamentary friendship group once traveled with the Macedonian president and parliament speaker to Turkey, Kızılcıklı said: “We were part of the delegation that accompanied the previous parliamentary speaker, Köksal Toptan, on his visit to Macedonia. Even though there may not be official records, we visit Macedonia, and our Macedonian counterparts visit our country on an unofficial basis frequently, and we continue to participate in dialogue and hold meetings during these visits.”

There appears to be little official activity between friendship groups when their participation in delegations that are traveling with the president, parliamentary speaker, prime minister or state ministers are excluded. According to records on official visits, the countries Turkish parliamentary friendship groups have visited since 2007 are the US, Germany, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Hungary, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia.

Out of the 99 friendship groups, 66 have never officially visited their country of interest, while 14 have only made one official visit.