ADDRESS BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE,

TO THE EUROPEAN FORUM CYPRUS

ISTANBUL, Friday 27 May 2011

Dear friends,

We last met in Cyprus in the margins of the European Speakers’ Conference organised by the Parliamentary Assembly in June 2010. And may I say, it is a real pleasure for me to be amongst you once more.

The involvement of our Assembly in your activities goes without saying. It was one of the previous Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly Mr René van der Linden, currently Speaker of the Dutch Senate, who was at the origin of the setting-up of this Forum. I also wish to thank the original sponsors: Mr Nami and Mr Kiprianu and its current ones, Mr Georgiou and Mr Caglar. As you no doubt know, our Assembly is the only international assembly in which elected representatives of both the Greek and Turkish communities can participate.

This Forum therefore represents a logical continuation, or extension, of our objectives at the youth level and this is why I am extremely happy to continue developing this excellent initiative.

The topic of your discussions today is at the heart of our own deliberations in the Assembly. The ongoing revolutions in the Arab world have been a perfect illustration of our belief that peace, dignity, prosperity, democracy and human rights are powerful and universal values that are shared by all mankind.

As you have already heard from Mr Laurens, the Council of Europe has a large panoply of tools – expertise, assistance and training programmes – that it has started putting at the disposal of our closest neighbours. Our Assembly’s main objective is to promote democratic change through increased contacts and dialogue. For this reason, we have created a new status called a “Partner for democracy”. We intend to grant it to parliaments of neighbouring countries which demonstrate their will to fully embrace the values of the Council of Europe: pluralist and gender parity-based democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The first requests we have received – those of Morocco and Palestine - are currently under examination and will hopefully reach a positive outcome during our June part-session for Morocco and during the autumn part-session for Palestine.

Also this year we will send a delegation to monitor the elections for a national constituent assembly in Tunisia. We are also working intensively on many issues of common interest such as inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, the issue of “living together” as well as Europe’s response to the large-scale arrival of refugees and asylum seekers.

The current events in the Arab world present us all - and especially all of you - with fascinating challenges also in terms of leadership. Until recently we used to believe that a young political leader needed to mature in age and experience before taking on increasingly important responsibilities. The Arab revolutions have done away with this concept, as we have witnessed people in their twenties become leaders of mass movements that have managed to overthrow seemingly immutable regimes!

So dear friends, today it is clearer than ever that the key to a better future is in the hands of each one of us. From this perspective, is becoming increasingly unacceptable, if not to say archaic, that conflicts and divisions such as the one in Cyprus still exist. Our Assembly’s position on this is very clear. It is stated in several resolutions and I reiterated it during both my visits to Cyprus last year: it is necessary to find “a lasting and comprehensive solution for a peaceful and united Cyprus, which would guarantee the legitimate rights of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, in full compliance with the values and principles of the Council of Europe”.

In order to build confidence and trust between both Cypriot communities, I called on political leaders on both sides of the island to multiply bi-communal activities. I also stressed that the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly could make a useful contribution through promoting people-to-people contacts. These are messages that I shall also convey to the new authorities in Nicosia following the elections that have just taken place.

Dear friends, let me say again how happy I am to see you together and how pleased I am to meet you in Istanbul, a city that is a crossroads of cultures and civilisations and an example of living together. I hope that thanks to your ambition and determination Cyprus will soon also become such a symbol. I wish you every success in your future activities.