1.04.2010

SPEECH BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE ON THE OCCASION OF THE

INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE ON

THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE VICTORY IN WORLD WAR II (1941-45)

(Saint-Petersburg, Wednesday 7 April 2010)

Dear Chairman of the Federation Council,

Dear Colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to represent the Council of Europe on such an important and solemn occasion and in this historical building, the home of Russian parliamentarism.

St Petersburg is the most suitable location for today’s commemoration. It is a symbol of heroic resistance against the Nazi army, a “city of heroes” which endured terrible sufferings during the Second World War. We all know about the nine hundred day-long siege, the bombardments and the hundreds of thousands of human casualties. We are here today to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the war, but we must never forget that this victory was paid for by enormous human suffering.

Tomorrow, we will pay tribute to more than half a million victims of the blockade at the Piskarevskoye Cemetery. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to these martyrs here today. They will be forever in our hearts and will not be forgotten.

At the end of the 1940s, after the clouds of war were dissipated, some outstanding European leaders had a clear vision that our continent had to be united by shared ideals and values, and that no more wars must ever take place in Europe. They agreed to establish the Council of Europe, an Organisation guided by the aim to promote Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law.

Their idea has proven to be right. The Council of Europe was indeed the place where a consensus was created and a new Europe, based on solid and long-lasting foundations, was built. The Council of Europe thus became one of the authors of reconciliation on our Continent.

World War II may have ended, but for several decades the world was the theatre of a new kind of conflict, the Cold War. Countries that were allies during World War II found themselves divided and opposing each other in this conflict, more quiet but potentially even more destructive than all previous wars.

After the end of the Cold War, the Council of Europe once again led the process of reconciliation. Central and eastern European countries embraced the standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and the Organisation gradually welcomed them as new members.

It took many years, from the late 1940s to the last decade, for the Council of Europe to unite the whole of Europe under the same roof and the same values. Now, we pride ourselves on being the only truly pan-European organisation.

The Council of Europe is neither an economic, nor a military body. One might think that this makes it weaker. On the contrary. As it is based on shared ideals and values, our Organisation has proven to be solid, and the European reconciliation process to be long-lasting.

Here in St Petersburg we, politicians from all European countries, can now remember and celebrate the end of the war precisely because we are united by common democratic values. Today we should not only celebrate the anniversary of a great victory. There is one more reason to celebrate: the fact that we have achieved a reconciliation process and have a common language of human rights and democracy that we can use to communicate everywhere in Europe.

And let me reiterate once again, in this City of Heroes that has experienced the real meaning of war, that we must use this common language to prevent any more military conflict from happening on our continent, and elsewhere.

Thank you for your attention.