( Cihan ) - Speaker of Turkish Parliament Bulent Arinc has left for Portugal at the invitation of Jaime da Gama, the president of Portuguese Assembly of the Republic.
Arinc told reporters before his departure for Lisbon on Wednesday morning that Portugal would take over the rotating EU Presidency as of July 1 from Germany.
Stressing that Portugal was one of the EU members which back Turkey's accession to the bloc, Arinc said that he would be the first head of Turkish Parliament to pay a visit to Portugal.
In addition to his Portuguese counterpart, Arinc will meet President, Prime Minister and main opposition leader of Portugal during his visit, which is accompanied by three Turkish MPs.
Mota Amaral, the former Portuguese parliament speaker, paid a visit to Turkey in 2004, which was also the first visit from the western European country at the parliament speaker's level.