ADDRESS BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

AT THE OPENING OF THE CIS-PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY/PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

JOINT CONFERENCE ON THE “THE FUTURE OF EUROPEAN SECURITY”

(Saint-Petersburg, Thursday 8 April 2010, Tavrichesky Palace, Duma Hall)

President, Excellencies, Fellow Parliamentarians,

It is a great honour for me to be in a position to give an opening address to you today, on the occasion of this joint International Parliamentary Conference of the CIS-Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We meet in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg at the beginning of spring – a season of hope which, I sense, has also had its influence on our discussions here today on the subject ‘The Future of European Security’.

Today, the European Security scene prospects are indeed very different from, say, a hundred years ago, which would have placed us in the year 1910; or seventy five years ago which would place us in 1935; or, for example, fifty years ago which would have been the year 1960.

As we know, in 1910, the world unknowingly drifted towards its first cataclysmic, continent-wide conflict of the twentieth century. It was a year of shifting and unstable alliances and counter-alliances. In 1935, one could already see the rise of that evil power, nazism, which would soon try to force its cruel will on the rest of Europe. And in 1960 we had two seemingly irreconcilable alliances, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, facing each other, only two years before the Cuban missile crisis. Perhaps this whole series of events led one person who lived through them all – General Charles de Gaulle of France – to conclude that “Countries can have no friends, only interests”.

Had de Gaulle lived today, however, he might have viewed things differently. True, Europe still has a security alliance – the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – but that is all. There is no counter-alliance to it, as no countries have thought it necessary to create one. NATO is not directed against any other country. It is rather a heritage from the Cold War, and today it has an almost entirely new set of tasks. And NATO has very close relations – in the form of various partnerships and cooperation agreements – with dozens of other European countries, including our host country today. Indeed, just today, a major agreement on further cuts in nuclear armaments will be signed by Russian and United States Heads of State, showing how far we have come.

I think we must all rejoice in this fortunate turn of events, because it did not always seem probable or even possible. Our countries have, since the end of the Cold War, come much closer to each other, aided not only by their own determination but also by technological process that have brought our citizens closer to each other, such as the Internet and easier travel. And the many years of overall peace in Europe have also helped, even though our continent has of course not been spared various regional conflicts over the past two decades.

As I have indicated, this new, de facto European security has come about as a result of the hard work of all European countries. I address you today in my capacity as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the the 47-member state Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France. So it is perhaps natural that I should emphasise the contribution which the Council of Europe and its Assembly have been and are making towards this new reality. The aim of the Council of Europe is to shape and promote common values that can add to overall security, prosperity and peace, by action on behalf of democracy, human rights and the rule of law – what is commonly called a “soft security”. By contrast, may I just note that the Council of Europe has no mandate in defence or military security.

While the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law have always been the cornerstones of the Council of Europe, they were defined as our core values at the Council of Europe’s Summit in Warsaw in May 2005, uniting the Heads of State and Government of our member states.

Today, 47 countries in Europe share these values as these are constantly refined within the Council of Europe; within the Committee of Ministers, uniting the Foreign Ministers of member states; within the Parliamentary Assembly where over 600 parliamentarians from all member states and several observer parliaments come together to debate and influence public opinion and the policies of member countries. There is also the European Court of Human Rights, whose Convention forms the basis of European efforts in the field of fundamental rights and freedoms. We have the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which inspects prisons and similar institutions around Europe on an on-going basis. There is the Commissioner for Human Rights, who confronts governments about their obligations to the Council of Europe’s around 200 Conventions. There is also the Venice Commission which gives advice on constitutional questions. And the European Congress of Local and Regional Authorities which increases understanding at grass roots level. I could have mentioned others if time had permitted me.

I have mentioned the Council of Europe in such detail because I know it particularly well. But also the CIS-Parliamentary Assembly fulfils a very useful function in bringing together many parliaments in the former Soviet Union area.

The on-going work of the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly to strengthen fundamental human values across our continent is of great importance to European peace and security, for it permits our countries increasingly to look at common problems through the same prism or vantage point. “Love and friendship”, said the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once, “means to look together in the same direction”.

If Europe has reached a relatively high degree of security – and here I am certainly not belittling the tragedy of recent regional conflicts – then this does not mean that there are no threats against our common security. I only have to mention terrorism, whether from outside Europe or from within, as we saw so tragically in Moscow and Dagestan only a few days ago. Or the threat of nuclear proliferation. Then there are conflicts outside of Europe which could easily spread to and involve one or more of our countries.

This makes it all the more important that we pull in the same direction. We must under no circumstances rest on our laurels or let down our guard. If the situation is different today from the past, then this is entirely due to our efforts. If we start slackening in our efforts, we could easily slip back to a less desirable situation. Just as democracy, human rights and the rule of law never become perfect, they must also constantly be defended. We have to pursue our work ever more steadfastly in this regard. This is why the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has a particularly active monitoring function to check on the situation in all our member states, and similar efforts are undertaken by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

And I am happy to have with me here today the members of two Sub-Committees of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: the Sub-Committee on External Relations, and the Sub-Committee with a very telling name – the Sub-Committee on Conflict Prevention Through Dialogue and Reconciliation. Is that not very much related to what we are doing here today?

Sometimes threats to our security come – not from the foreign policy arena – but from unexpected directions. I am thinking of the state of our economies in the wake of the financial and economic crisis that has been sweeping the world and is still not overcome. This crisis has caused enormous damage, not only to our economy but also to the social and political fabric of our countries, and even relations between some of our countries. We have already seen signs of rising protectionism and even renewed bouts of nationalism. This is something we must be extremely vigilant about, since we know what followed after another economioc crisis, the Great Depression in Europe in the 1930s.

This is why this conference is so important, since it draws attention to the present state of, and future prospects of European security. That is also why I am particularly happy about the longstanding cooperation between the CIS-Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

To sum up, we live in a new Europe. Much has been achieved over the past few decades to improve the situation. Old dividing lines are gone and we must ensure they do not arise anew. We must redouble our efforts to safeguard what we have achieved and to build an even better future for the citizens of our continent.

I thank you for your attention.