KEY NOTE SPEECH BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL CONSULTANTS

ISTANBUL, 18 November 2011, 9.15 a.m.

Religion, Ethnicity & Culture Challenges for Democracy

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me a great pleasure to address the International Association of Political Consultants and I wish to thank the organisers for this possibility to share with you the ideas and aspirations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Today’s topic for discussion is Religion, Ethnicity and Culture, and the Organisation that I represent today – the Council of Europe – is well set to provide an example. An example, firstly, of the realities of today’s Europe, and secondly, of the values and principles that we believe are the key to maintaining peace, tolerance, dialogue and harmony on our Continent and beyond.

The Council unites around a set of common values and principles practically all the European countries, with one single exception, that of Belarus. It represents an incredible mixture of cultures, languages, political ideas and religions. The key of the success of the Council of Europe is the unity in the diversity. Our diversity gives us the wealth of ideas and good practices; whereas our unity, based on our shared values, gives the strength to overcome differences and move forward.

Talking firstly about the realities, historically, Europe has always been multi-religious and multicultural. In the past centuries, terrible wars in Europe occurred based on ideological, ethnic, religious and linguistic differences. Even though at the current moment we have achieved a great deal in building democratic, multicultural societies, their harmonious development is still constantly exposed to dangers in terms of discrimination, lack of understanding, high tension, xenophobia and even barbarous acts of hatred and violence.

The reason for this is the division and partition of diverse inter-cultural and inter-ethnic societies which, even though they co-exist in peaceful manner, often lack interaction. This creates a real potential for social and political instability. It also leads to extremism, discrimination, intolerance, xenophobia and as we have seen more recently in Europe – to terrorism.

This leads me on to the second point, that of the ideas and principles that we are trying to defend. As you certainly know, the Council of Europe is the edifice laying on the three pillars on which modern Europe is built: democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Yet these principles, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, are far more than just words on paper. They have to be translated into realities on an everyday basis and in all the areas of life.

In connexion to the topic of our discussion, we believe that the solution to the problems that I have just mentioned lies in intercultural dialogue, by the means of which different cultural and religious groups can interact and cooperate for common goals and objectives.

Freedom of thought and expression, human rights, respect for the equal dignity of human beings and non-discrimination, legal certainty and equality of all before the law, political pluralism, separation of powers and a system of checks and balances,– these are the fundamental elements which make up an environment in which dialogue between different ethnicities, cultures and religions can thrive and flourish. These fundamental principles and ideals are not only European but genuinely universal.

In this context, I would like to stress that the promotion of inter-cultural dialogue is one of the top priorities of the Assembly, as well as a key political priority of my mandate.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Building the environment and foundation for the promotion of these values and of inter-cultural dialogue is of a vital importance, but we should not just stop there. Specific policies must be tailor-made in order to fully address the challenges of democracy through the spectrum of intercultural dialogue. In this area, the Council of Europe has a wealth of expertise and experience to contribute.

One of our most important achievements is the White Paper on Intercultural dialogue, adopted in 2008. It is addressed to policy makers and practitioners at national, regional and local levels.

It defines intercultural dialogue as an open and respectful exchange of views between individuals, groups with different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds and heritage on the basis of mutual understanding and respect.

It contains a number of practical guidelines and recommendations on various aspects of intercultural dialogue, in particular, as regards the democratic governance of cultural diversity, non-discrimination and positive-action measures to redress inequalities, participation and democratic citizenship, multilingualism and history teaching.

We should use fully our democratic oversight powers in order to ensure that Governments take into account the inter-cultural dimension in the design of their policies and legislation. Ever-closer ties should be developed with all of the actors in the society, particularly with ethnic and religious communities, including minority groups. This will further build up civic participation and unite all of the citizens, making them active part of the community and eradicating any discrimination.

Dear colleagues,

The Parliamentary Assembly held a very interesting debate in April 2011 on the religious dimension of inter-cultural dialogue with the participation of representatives of five religions - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish. It was the first time in our history that they spoke together in our Assembly Chamber, sharing their belief that societies can only prosper if we promote respect and mutual understanding between people, strengthen solidarity between individuals and communities, as well as reinforce social cohesion.

And in June 2011, our Assembly held a debate on “Living together in 21st-century Europe”, examining the report on the same subject prepared by the Group of Eminent Persons convened at the initiative of the then Chairman of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, and the Council of Europe Secretary General, Torbjørn Jagland. The outcome of this debate was that that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, through our recommendations launched a major “Campaign on living together” in order to promote the principles of tolerance and respect for differences, inter-cultural dialogue and fight against extremism and xenophobia in European societies.

Dear colleagues, Dear friends,

In recent times our Assembly has felt that the dialogue with our neighbours needed to be moved to a whole new level in order to respond to new challenges in-hand, akin to the topic of our discussion today, as well as to the currents of the changing world. Therefore, in 2009 our Assembly created the status of “Partnership for Democracy” which is a status granted to Parliaments of non-member states sharing our values, subscribing to our standards and actively engaged in building democratic societies based on the principles of rule of law and fundamental freedoms. Without offering full membership, this status allows far greater possibilities of cooperation, assistance and dialogue. The Kingdom of Morocco was the first country to be granted this status last June; the Palestinian National Council followed suit in October and we have just received a request from the Kyrgyz Republic. We also hope that Tunisia will soon apply, following the parliamentary elections there and I have just come back from an official visit to Algeria, where we discussed the same possibility with regard to the Algerian parliament.

The creation of this status was a genuinely visionary approach, as just one year later our southern neighbourhood was shaken by the revolutions in the Arab world.

The changes in the Arab world were not triggered by outside influences. They 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, fair, 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 and is thus a confirmation that the values and principles that we have promoted over the last 60 years are universal.

The winds of change that are sweeping through the Arab world affect us profoundly, particularly in today’s globalised world, when the future of countries are closely intertwined. These events represent a serious test for all Europeans and for all those who share the universal fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

We must support the people in the Arab world in their legitimate aspiration to build genuine democratic societies based on the principles of respect for human dignity and non-discrimination, pluralism, human rights and the rule of law.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lastly, as you know, in the last couple of years, we have seen a general rise of extremist, racist and xenophobic rhetoric in Europe, as well as all over the world. We must be up to this challenge and combat intolerance, discrimination and hate speech most resolutely. And as I mentioned earlier these problems can be tackled with by the means of inter-cultural dialogue, specific policies and actions, and more importantly by co-cooperation. And I am sure that the discussions during your annual conference will greatly contribute to achieving this goal.

Thank you for your attention.