Erdogan meets Pakistan's parliamentary delegation

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Thursday a parliamentary delegation from Pakistan, who is on a five-day visit to Turkey to express solidarity with the Turkish people and parliament.

During the closed meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Erdogan thanked both houses of the Parliament for unanimously passing resolutions expressing strong support and solidarity with Turkey in defeating the July 15 coup attempt and protecting democracy, according to a press release by the Embassy of Pakistan.

The resolutions were passed by the National Assembly and the Senate on August 3.

Erdogan described the visit as "very significant," adding '"your support to Turkey in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt is exemplary", the statement said.

Erdogan told the visiting parliamentarians that he would be visiting Pakistan soon to thank the Pakistani people for their support.

The president also condemned the August 8 suicide attack at a hospital in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta which killed at least 70 people.

Erdogan sent his condolences to the families of the victims, and expressed Turkey's support in the struggle against terrorism.

Head of the 8-member all-party delegation, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, expressed solidarity to Turkey, as well as support for democracy.

Sayed praised Erdogan's brave leadership during the coup attempt, and touted him for having taken the initiative to mobilize people to resist the coup bid.

Sayed said Pakistan and Turkey had "a special and extraordinary bond" and "are part of the same ummah."

Turkey's government has said the defeated coup, which left 240 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured, was organized by followers of Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) network.

Gulen is accused of leading a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.

*Hatice Kesgin contributed to this story from Ankara.