Turkey's parliament is ready to cooperate with Russia on economic issues, circumventing the Turkish government, a legislator of Turkey's opposition Kemalist Republican People's Party (CHP) Tahsin Tarhan told Sputnik Turkiye.
According to Tarhan, an entrepreneur, the political conflict has hit hard on Turkey's economic ties with Russia, including the construction, tourism and energy industries. While Turkey's government has remained belligerent toward Russia, its opposition and business circles have presented more opportunities for dialogue.
"I see not only the political, but also the economic measure of what happened in the situation between the two countries. The high level of bilateral economic cooperation that formed in the past few years shows that very close, friendly, familiar ties formed between Turkey and Russia," Tarhan said.
"If the situation demands it, to overcome the crisis, the Turkish parliament may form a special commission from all parties' representatives to establish contacts with Russia," Tarhan said.
Tarhan did not go into specifics on his proposal, although according to him, wide swaths of society must be included in the process.
