PM Yıldırım welcomes veteran Belarus politician to Turkish Parliament

ANKARA

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım welcomed Mikhail Myasnikovich, the chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, at the Turkish Parliament in the capital Ankara on Aug. 7.

The meeting between the two leaders, which was closed to the press, lasted for 50 minutes. 

Myasnikovich also met with Turkish Parliament Speaker İsmail Kahraman earlier on the same day. 

At the start of the meeting, Kahraman reportedly emphasized that Turkey and Belarus were “brother countries.” 

Myasnikovich expressed his gratitude to be in Turkey, saying Belarus saw Turkey as a “key country in foreign relations.” 

He added that the two countries had taken a “great step in socio-economic, cultural and political relations,” voicing his desire that relations will be further strengthened. 

The two leaders’ meeting then continued closed to the press. 

Myasnikovich had served as Deputy Prime Minister of Soviet Byelorussia and then independent Belarus, and he was the key aide of the country’s Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich, who served from 1991 to 1994. Myasnikovich himself was the prime minister of Belarus from 2010 to 2014.