Turkey decided against forming parliamentary friendship groups with five countries, including Israel and Syria, in the newly commenced parliamentary session, while preparing to form friendship groups with 18 new countries.

During the previous session of Parliament, the 23rd session, there were friendship groups with parliamentarians from 110 countries, including Israel and Syria. Parliament has decided to re-establish friendship with 212 countries, which does not include Israel, Syria, Libya, Greece and Uzbekistan.

The exclusion of Israel from the list was expected as Turkey’s ties with the Jewish state have recently hit a low. The first-ever parliamentary friendship group with Israel was formed during the 20th session of Parliament, between January 1996 and April 1999. The last group was formed during the 23rd session of Parliament, which opened in August 2007 and closed in June 2011.

Eighteen new countries with whom Turkey has recently been boosting relations will have friendship groups in Parliament in the new session. Among these countries are Bolivia, Denmark, Ecuador, Gambia, Luxembourg, Malta, Mozambique, Paraguay, Somalia, Turkmenistan and Zambia, Today’s Zaman reported.