SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY, MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

FOR MR RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN,

PRIME MINISTER OF TURKEY

(Strasbourg, Wednesday 13 April 2011, noon)

Dear Prime Minister,

It is both an honour and a great pleasure to welcome you to this Chamber, with which you are of course familiar, as you have addressed us on previous occasions in 2004 and 2006. Your participation here today has a special meaning as with Turkey presently holding the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers and it also follows that of the address by the President of Turkey Abdullah Gül to this Assembly, which took place in January this year

In this way Turkey not only shows its commitment to developing and promoting the principles and values of the Council of Europe. It also sends a strong signal of the involvement that this organisation needs, at the highest political level, in order to be able to continue to fulfill its mission and respond to challenges.

We highly appreciate your personal commitment to our values and the ambitious reform process that you have been implementing in your country. The positive result of the referendum on constitutional change held last September confirmed the willingness of the Turkish people to share the European values.

And, when talking about the challenges Europe has to face, you are well aware that we have plenty on our plate: be it financial and economic, social, migratory or related to energy resources and climate change. The common denominator of all these is the right of every human being to dignity and fundamental human rights. We are witnessing this today in a remarkable way in the Arab world. Although the future of these countries is in the hands of their people, it is important for us to consider what our contribution could be and what example we could give. The “Turkish model” is often referred to in these countries and it would be interesting to have your views on this.

Another key to our common future is intercultural and interreligious dialogue, to which this Assembly is strongly attached. Yesterday we held a most fruitful debate on this issue with the participation of religious leaders representing all the major faiths in Europe. We welcome and strongly support the role of the Alliance of Civilizations which you co-chair with the Spanish Prime Minister Mr Zapatero. We need to find answers to the growing intolerance and discrimination in our world. In this connexion, I would like to recall the words you expressed, Mr Prime Minister, during your address to this Assembly in 2006, that we need to mobilise our hopes, not our fears.

Prime Minister, you have the floor.