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Russian MP says State Duma will form ‘friendship group’ with Turkish parliament

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma seeks to expand inter-parliamentary cooperation with Turkey and form a group of legislators that will oversee ties with the Turkish parliament, Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, told TASS on Tuesday.

"The friendship groups, including one with the Turkish parliament, will be formed no later than mid-November," he said.

According to Slutsky, the State Duma factions are currently submitting their proposals on membership and candidacies for group coordinators on relations with parliaments across the globe. "The State Duma Council is to approve the list of coordinators, after which the groups will be formed in full," he added.

A group on relations with the Turkish parliament worked in previous State Duma assemblies. However, its activities were suspended in late 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 jet in the skies over Syria. Contacts between senior officials in the State Duma and the Turkish parliament were discontinued. However, LDPR and the Just Russia factions continued cooperating with the Turkish parliamentarians who are not members of the ruling party. Russia and Turkey began to patch up bilateral ties in the summer after Turkey apologized for the Su-24 incident.