Statement from the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmuş, on Portugal Contacts and Fund Investigation

Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmuş, made a statement to TRT Haber during his contacts in Portugal. The highlights of Kurtulmuş's statements are as follows:

"An extremely positive agenda has been developing between Turkey and Portugal, especially recently. The Speaker of the Portuguese Parliament, my esteemed counterpart Mr. Branko, paid an official visit to Türkiye on January 20 this year. Then he came to Türkiye within the framework of the NATO Parliament Speakers Meeting. We had a bilateral meeting there again. I came here as a return visit, so to speak. A very productive and useful meeting was held here with our MP friends from the parliament, ruling and opposition parties." It was both one-on-one and inter-delegation meetings. In this sense, cooperation opportunities are possible between Turkey and Portugal. We discussed many issues such as increasing investment opportunities, especially in the defense industry, and mutual cooperation in the field of tourism. In addition to bilateral issues, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the parliaments of both countries. We have put forward a legal framework that will form the contractual basis for our relations that will develop from now on. The fact that it coincides with the centennial of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Portugal is also an important reason for motivation.

We have seen once again, with great pleasure, that our approaches on many international issues largely overlap with those of Portugal. For example, I can say that we have very close views on the Palestinian issue, the crimes committed by Israel in Palestine, and the steps or measures that can be taken against the ongoing genocide there. Also, of course, there is a very fragmented political structure here. So there are groups that support Israel, especially the far right. But socialist, social democratic and centrist parties mostly support Palestine and the Palestinian people. As you know, last year they seriously recognized the Palestinian state at the margins of the United Nations. This year, they supported and signed the joint decision of eight countries on the embargo against the trade of Jewish settlers in the occupied regions of Palestine. Therefore, we had the opportunity to talk about these issues, the attacks carried out by America and Israel against Iran and the tensions there over Hormuz. We also discussed our ideas on how the Russia-Ukraine war, which is a very important security threat for Europe, can be ended, how this mediation role of Türkiye can be developed, and how European countries can intervene here. It was an extremely productive and constructive meeting for us. I hope that it will provide serious support to the future relations of the two countries within the framework of the win-win principle.

FUND INVESTIGATION

Now, of course, first of all, in order for an investigation commission to be established in the Parliament, the parties must show determination and accept this issue. But before that, this is a really serious issue. It is not a job that can be tolerated in any way. If someone has made unfair profits from the money that poor people have saved with their halal money and put it into the stock market in order to make a profit of a few cents, if they have obtained unfair results with some inside information, if they have made big money, no matter who they are, no matter where they reach out, they must be revealed and they must be held accountable.