SPEECH BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,
PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
ON THE OCCASION OF THE IFTAR DINNER
ORGANISED BY “ZAMAN-ISKANDINAVYA”

COPENHAGEN, 22 August 2011

Distinguished Guests,

It is a great pleasure for me to be with you today in this Ramadan evening and I wish a very happy Ramadan and Iftar to all those who observe it. I also would like to thank, most warmly, the organisers, Mr Hüseyin Arac, MP, and our friends from “Zaman Iskandinavya” for inviting me to this evening’s Iftar.

Dear friends,

Mutual understanding, respect, tolerance and dialogue… These are the key values we actively promote in the Council of Europe. And, these are also most fitting notions in these Ramadan days. So, I am very happy to be here today on this very special evening in order to share with you some thoughts about how we promote these values in the Council of Europe.

Dear friends,

As I am sure you all know, the Council of Europe is the oldest and biggest European institution. It unites practically all the countries of the European Continent – 47 – with the sole exception of Belarus. Therefore, today, it is the only truly Pan-European institution which covers an incredible variety of cultures, historic legacies, languages, religious beliefs and political systems.

The Council of Europe is based on a political model, which I would not hesitate to qualify as unique, and possibly the most successful ever. The Organisation was founded in 1949, when Europe was divided and still traumatised by the huge human loss and suffering endured during the Second World War. It was not easy to reconcile nations and people who had until recently fought against each other. But our solution has been to promote co-operation, on equal footing and without double standards, on the basis of shared values and principles, in order to achieve a common goal of making Europe more stable and prosperous. Our aim is not to promote some sort of “Western” or “Eastern” approaches and visions; rather, we focus on building a truly Pan-European political model for our Continent, based on each other’s different experiences and encompassing all our cultural and historic specificities.

Of course, during our history, we have not always been successful. The dramatic wars which followed the break up of the former Yugoslavia have ruined the lives of many families, built prejudice, installed an atmosphere of mistrust between neighbours. And Europe still faces a number of frozen conflicts, in Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Of course, these conflicts cannot be resolved overnight. But I am optimistic and my optimism is supported by facts: recently, the process of reconciliation in the Balkans received a fresh boost, especially, following the arrest of all the remaining suspected war criminals. This proves that democratic reforms, dialogue, and respect of the rule of law and of each other’s fundamental rights can make the difference! And I am proud that the Parliamentary Assembly has made a considerable contribution to this process. In their addresses to the Assembly, the Presidents of Croatia and Serbia praised our efforts and presented their plans to move reconciliation further.

Dear friends,

The values of Democracy, Rule of Law and Respect for Fundamental Rights have guided Europe’s development over the years and helped us achieve the high levels of prosperity, social protection and basic rights we are currently enjoying. Today, we feel that our duty is to share these achievements with all those who strive to build more open, pluralistic and democratic societies. I am thinking especially about our southern neighbours in the Mediterranean region: the people of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria who fight authoritarian rule, seeking more freedom, dignity, social justice and democracy.

The changes that are happening in the Arab world – the so-called Arab spring – are the result of internal causes and, most importantly, of a shared desire of all people across the world to live in societies which are more just, both in political and social terms. From this point of view, there is ground for optimism, because the Arab spring shows similarities with Europe’s experience: it confirms that the values and principles that we have promoted over the last 60 years are universal.

The biggest challenge in the region, though, is to make sure that freedom, dignity and democracy do not remain just slogans on the streets of Tunis, Cairo and elsewhere. These concepts must be translated into concrete actions: holding of free and fair elections, provision of real guarantees for basic rights and freedoms, establishment of well-functioning democratic institutions and independent judiciary, fight against corruption, support to free media and civil society... And this is just the tip of the iceberg, because, above all, a democratic transformation is mostly about changing the minds, the attitudes and the practices. In other words, an immense task!

But we are ready for this challenge. Recently, we developed a special tool called “Partnership for Democracy” precisely to support our neighbours who share our values and subscribe to our standards. The aim of this status is to provide Parliaments of non-member states with the wealth of European expertise and best practices. Furthermore, without offering full membership, partnership with the Assembly allows non-member parliamentarians to participate in our works, express their views, share their experiences and contribute to the development of new standards. The Partnership status is not about “exporting” our vision of democracy. On the contrary: it is about supporting all those who share our common values in their efforts to develop their own models, on the basis of shared standards.

In June this year, for the first time in the Council of Europe’s history, we granted the Partnership status to a Parliament of a non-member state – the Kingdom of Morocco. In two weeks time, our Committee on Political Affairs will be examining an application from Palestine. I hope the conclusion of the Committee will be a favourable one and a debate on the grating of the Partnership status to Palestine will take place during the October 2011 part-session.

Furthermore, we are actively promoting this new status with Tunisia and hope the authorities will apply when they feel ready. We also hope that applications will come from our neighbours in Central Asia. Recently, I paid an official visit to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan where I actively promoted this status. My arguments were positively received and I hope there will soon be more progress on this front.

Dear colleagues, friends,

We should nonetheless recognise that Europe, for its part, should also face up to its own responsibilities in the face of these developments. I shall just give you one example: the waves of refugees and irregular migrants fleeing the conflicts in North Africa and seeking refuge in Europe.

In a recent debate, our Parliamentary Assembly acknowledged that although the concentration of refugees in certain regions puts them under very strong pressure – and here I think in particular of Malta and the tiny island of Lampedusa - the number of asylum seekers in Europe, and in particular those arriving from the southern Mediterranean, should not pose an insurmountable problem for Europe as a whole. Therefore, it should be a common responsibility of all European countries to address this issue and ensure that those seeking international protection should have access to fair and efficient systems for the processing of their claims.

That said, I must stress that the recent increase in migration flows in the Mediterranean region is not only Europe’s problem. It is a genuinely regional issue that affects us all: while European countries, such as Italy, Malta, France, as well as my own country – Turkey, are providing shelter to dozens of thousands of people crossing sea and land borders to escape the ongoing conflicts, our southern neighbours in Egypt and Tunisia are confronted with exactly the same problem, with hundreds of thousands of Libyan refugees fleeing their country by land routes. A shared problem requires a joint response. Therefore, co-operation in the wider Euro-Mediterranean region becomes a key issue for Europe and our neighbours.

Dear friends,

I would like to finish my speech by sharing with you a credo: Living together. “Living together in 21st century Europe” is the title of a report prepared by a Group of Eminent Persons, on the basis of an initiative launched by the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, and the Council of Europe Secretary General, Torbjørn Jagland. But beyond this, I call it a credo, or a philosophy, since this is what has held European nations together since the last world war. And, following the events in our Mediterranean neighbourhood, this is not only our reality – but also our biggest challenge !

Historically, Europe has developed as a multicultural society. Yet, it is also true that today multiculturalism faces increasing difficulties and the issue of discrimination and intolerance has become one of the main challenges. The recent tragic events in Norway show how fragile our European society is, in the face of the rise of extremism, racism and xenophobia. What is even more worrying is that some politicians argued after the Utoya and Oslo massacres that some of the ideas the author of this heinous crime used to “justify” his actions were “good” and even “excellent”. Here, I must stress that such statements are unacceptable in a democratic society! Politicians bear a special responsibility for eliminating from the political discourse any statements which could justify discrimination, exclusion or xenophobia. Of course, I am not saying we should not discuss the challenges to European multiculturalism. On the contrary, it becomes urgent to address them in an open debate – as we do it in the Assembly – in order to find together the right response.

And our response should be a truly intercultural approach, which allows culturally different groups within society to interact in order to develop the best model of living together. Different cultures of specific groups should be preserved and their specificities - incorporated - in the common European framework.

Immigration should not be seen as a threat but as an opportunity to learn from each other’s differences and experiences. Therefore, governments should put in place measures that support integration. But integration will be successful only if there is a reciprocal commitment. People coming lawfully to live in a country should not be expected to leave elements of their identity (faith, language, culture, etc.) behind. However, they are expected to show willingness to integrate into the society of their new country, by not only learning its language, but also gaining knowledge and understanding of the local culture.

This brings me to one of the most topical sectors of activity of the Assembly as well as one of the key political priorities of my mandate. This is inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. This is the most effective tool in the fight racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism, Islamophobia and all kinds of similar phobia.

In April 2011, the Assembly held a very interesting debate on the religious dimension of inter-cultural dialogue with the participation of representatives of different religions - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish. It was the first time in our history that they were sitting together in the Chamber. It was a really moving moment to see leaders of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities share their belief that societies can only prosper if we promote respect and mutual understanding between peoples, strengthen solidarity between individuals and communities, as well as reinforce social cohesion.

Dear friends,

Building our common European home is a challenging and, sometimes, very difficult task. But it is also an extremely enriching experience! It is a never ending learning process where our common values help us keep the right course and our differences and specificities help us generate new ideas in order to move forward. I am proud to participate in this process and very glad to be able to share with you some of my thoughts today, so that together we can contribute a little bit more to our joint reflection about our European future!

Thank you for your attention.