Turkey to have more delegates at NATO assembly

Turkey's delegation at parliamentary assembly will grow from 12 to 18 members in light of its population

By Meltem Ozturk

ANKARA (AA) - NATO’s assembly of member state parliamentarians will boost the size of Turkey’s representation by half, from 12 to 18.

Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly standing committee voted Friday in favor of the increase, after the head of Turkey’s delegation, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, demanded the change in light of Turkey’s population.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is an inter-parliamentary organization which brings together legislators from NATO member countries to consider security-related issues of common interest and concern.

The assembly is made up of 257 delegates from the 28 NATO member countries. Each delegation is based on the country's size and reflects the political composition of the parliament. Delegates are nominated by their parliaments according to their national procedures.

Currently, the United States has 36 delegates, while France, Germany, Italy and Britain each have 18 delegates.

* Ayse Humeyra Atilgan contributed to this report from Istanbul.

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