By Halil Sahin

IZMIR

The 8th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TURKPA) started Tuesday in Turkey’s Aegean province of Izmir.

The assembly, where Anadolu Agency is the official host photographer, was organized by the Turkish parliament.

Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim attended the session along with his counterparts from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Hungary.

As part of the program, parliament speakers of the member countries gathered at the closed-door meeting of TURKPA's Council of Assembly.

Altynbek Mamaiusupov -- who was elected as the Secretary General of TURKPA at the 7th Meeting of Plenary Session of the Assembly held on Dec. 8, 2017 in Bishkek -- along with the speakers of the parliament posed for a photo, following the eighth meeting of the Council of Assembly.

Later, Yildirim held a bilateral meeting with Hungarian parliament speaker Laszlo Kover, whose country has an observer status.

The first plenary session of the TURKPA was conducted in Baku in September 2009, with its secretariat authority based in the same city.

TURKPA is an international organization established in Istanbul in Nov. 2008, according to the agreement signed by the heads of parliaments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

*Jeyhun Aliyev in Ankara contributed to this story.