Parliamentary Assembly

Before I deliver my speech, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the Russian people and to the Russian delegation here. I strongly condemn, once again, all kinds of terrorism.

Mr President, Secretary General, honourable members of the Assembly, it is a great pleasure to be back in the Council of Europe. I served here as a member for almost 10 years. Being a member of the Parliamentary Assembly was a source of huge personal experience and enrichment for me. In fact, my commitment to the Council of Europe entirely overlaps with my 20-year-long political career.

I first took the floor as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly. Then, I had the opportunity to address the Assembly as Prime Minister and represented my country as the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Committee of Ministers.

“Europe is a way of life based on shared common values and standards with universal relevance”

As I address the Assembly for the second time as the President of Turkey, my fellow citizen, Mr Çavuşoğlu, is presiding over the Assembly and my country holds the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. On this occasion, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the member states for the trust shown in my country.

Mr President, while we gather here in Strasbourg at the beginning of 2011, Europe is in a mood of deep pessimism. Our continent is trying to come out of the severest economic crisis. Although global in its scope, the economic crisis has affected Europe more severely than other parts of the world. It is gripped by high unemployment, and huge debt compels many governments to adopt harsh economic measures.

For most of the past 400 years, the west has enjoyed a huge comparative advantage over the rest of the world in developing ideas, materialising industrial revolution, innovating technology and generating economic growth.

Only 10 years ago, the industrial democracies dominated the world economy, contributing about 70% of global economic output. Today, that share has fallen to just over 50%; in another decade from now, it is estimated that it will fall to about 40%. Then, the bulk of global output will be produced in the emerging world. Different growth rates lead to a new distribution of global power. It is obvious that the centre of gravity is shifting towards other parts of the world, particularly Asia. If current trends continue, Europe’s role and influence in economic terms will gradually decline.

Nevertheless, Europe is not just about industrialisation, technology or economic power. It is also the cradle of notions such as democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. The enlightenment and democratic revolutions were all original European achievements with historic global appeal. The relative economic powers of countries and continents have risen and declined in the course of history. However, the values that have been developed in Europe will persist, and will continue to guide humanity in the coming centuries. Therefore we should not lose sight of the huge strengths that Europe still holds.

Ruined by warfare for centuries and having experienced several tragedies in the 20th century, Europe proceeded to produce humanity’s noblest works. Our continent has come a very long way in the past 60 years in building a common democratic order based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Post-war Europe was constructed as a house where being a European citizen or resident means belonging to a community based on the enjoyment of individual rights and freedoms. Those rights are guaranteed by democratically elected governments and protected by an impartial and independent judiciary. Tolerance, acceptance and mutual respect of diversity have become our shared norms.

The membership of such a community entails accepting certain obligations in respect of others and contributing to the development of a fair and cohesive society. These democratic achievements continue to be the best that Europe offers to the rest of the world. Europe represents a way of life based on shared common values and standards with universal relevance. This remains its strength and relevance in the contemporary world. A divided Europe has led to war and oppression whereas a Europe without dividing lines and based on shared democratic principles has led to peace and prosperity.

Our Organisation has been at the centre of this democratic construction. Its pioneering work has transformed our continent into a single legal space. However, I should admit that Europe is not fully aware of its soft power. The European institutions have positively transformed the security and economic climate in broader Europe since the Second World War. Yet, we are not active enough to project our enormous soft power on the global scale. As a result, now Europe is seen as an absent player in world affairs.

There are growing manifestations of intolerance and discrimination in many of our societies. Over the past few years, our member states have been affected by weakening social ties. Radicalisation and increasing gaps between different regions and ethnic and cultural communities have started to harm the social fabric of our nations. These contemporary trends challenge the cohesion of European societies and may even endanger Europe’s democratic acquis. Racism and xenophobia represent a major cause of concern in connection with the current economic crisis. They lead governments and political elites to take a tough line on immigration.

Roma and Travellers, Muslims or Jews and, more generally, those who are different experience hostility and social exclusion in many of our societies. There is a rise in electoral support for political parties which portray immigration as the main cause of insecurity, unemployment, crime, poverty and social problems. There are trends which should concern us all. Those pathologies are weakening Europe and decimating its soft power in the world. We should work hard to defeat those problems to reassert Europe on the global scene.

Distinguished parliamentarians, the Council of Europe has done and continues to do much for promoting peaceful co-existence and mutual respect between peoples of different origin, culture and faith living in Europe. You in the Assembly have devoted many of your sessions to this task.

The European Court of Human Rights has many judgments supporting this objective. The Committee of Ministers, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance have made their contribution to living together as equals in dignity. Therefore, the Council of Europe has the duty to address and counter these new challenges. As the guardian of European Convention on Human Rights, we have the obligation to defend our values which are preconditions for democratic security and stability in Europe.

Let me make the point clear: European societies will eventually become more diverse. As demographic trends indicate, with declining and ageing populations, continued prosperity requires some degree of migration for most European societies. Experts are united in their opinion that migration will compensate slower economic growth stemming from the ageing population. On the other hand, we have also seen reverse migration among our member states due to differences in economic growth rates. For example, my country – Turkey – is now experiencing immigration from western European countries, whereas it was a source of migration from the 1960s. Therefore, fortress Europe is not a rational choice. It is an illusion. If our societies become more diverse, we have to address the growing political and social consequences of that diversity.

European democracies have begun to identify what the American democracy had discovered earlier: separate but equal is a wrong idea. Separate cannot be equal. Both migrant communities and host countries should do their utmost to avoid segregation, separation and parallel communities. For harmonious democratic societies, diversity has to be inclusive. Successful integration of migrants has to be a two-way street.

European Muslims have perhaps been more affected than others by these tendencies, particularly after the terrorist attacks since 11 September 2001 in New York, Madrid, Istanbul and London. Muslims in Europe are very diverse not only in their geographical origins and cultural heritage, but also in their ways of interpreting and practising their faith. Yet it is a misperception to view these diverse communities as a unitary one defined by religion. This is fundamentally at odds with European values. The perpetrators of these crimes have nothing to do with Islam. One should also bear in mind that those terrorist organisations are attacking many Muslim targets too. They do not have achievable political objectives, but rather pursue their archaic and illicit utopian ideas. Islam, like all other religions, teaches tolerance and respect for human beings of all faiths. It is the abuse of faiths for political purposes that leads to intolerance and exclusion. The same applies to almost every ethnic minority of recent immigrant origin in Europe. Those communities have found themselves the subject of stereotyped portrayal in public opinion and the media.

We must retain confidence in the ability of our democratic institutions to promote human rights, tolerance, dialogue, and social cohesion. We need to develop a democratic framework for living together. By doing so, Europe can remain a beacon of respect for human rights in the world. It is said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The rise in popular fears about immigration and minorities has led to greater popular support for marginal political parties. Let me emphasise that I am even more concerned by the reaction of mainstream political parties in addressing such popular fears.

I have been advocating the construction of a new political language for some time both at home and abroad. I believe that the nature of political language determines the outcome. Political language can be either constructive or destructive. With their choice of language, political actors can serve to foster common understanding or division. Therefore, mainstream political parties in Europe have to address these fears in a convincing manner while defending respect for diversity and human rights.

We have to make the argument much more forcefully that the continent will not be safe with politicians who claim that Europe is at war with other cultures and religions. On the contrary, if unchecked, the growing influence of such arguments will make Europe not only less tolerant and democratic, but a more dangerous place to live in. European values are based not only on our achievements, but on bitterly learned lessons. Let us not forget that the popular support for explicit anti-Semitism was only 5% in the late 1920s. With the snowball effect, that poisonous minority paved the way for the Holocaust from the late 1930s. History does repeat itself if we do not draw lessons from our past mistakes.

Our Organisation – the Council of Europe – has a major role to play in meeting these contemporary challenges. That is why I am particularly pleased to see the establishment of a Group of Eminent Persons at the initiative of the Turkish chairmanship. I thank Secretary General Jagland for bringing together such eminent Europeans to form this group. I am equally delighted to see that the group is headed by my dear friend Joschka Fischer. I call on your Assembly to bring your contribution to this project, appropriately called “living together”.

Democracy and human rights can never be taken for granted. As guardian of these values, the role of the Council of Europe, I believe, remains as relevant today as it was 60 years ago. Some members of our Organisation have joined in a qualitatively different relationship in the EU. But Europe is not just composed of the EU. The Council of Europe, embracing 800 million Europeans, remains the only pan-European value-based organisation. In fact, thanks to the Council of Europe, millions of Europeans are now enjoying their fundamental rights, such as equal treatment, expression of opinion, gender equality, good governance, transparency and accountability. It is the Council of Europe that translated these values into binding commitments through monitoring mechanisms and created a European legal space. It would therefore be a grave mistake to underestimate the merits of our Organisation in the construction of a free, safe and prosperous Europe.

To maintain and enhance this role of the Council of Europe, I call on all members of the Organisation to increase their political involvement in the work of the Council of Europe. I know that Secretary General Jagland is firmly committed to political reform to make the Council of Europe more relevant and visible. I shared my views about the future of the Organisation when he visited me in Ankara. In our meeting earlier this morning, he informed me that he will soon be presenting new ideas for more reform. Turkey has been supporting his efforts. To this end, the Turkish chairmanship has identified reform of the Organisation as one of its priorities. The next meeting of the Committee of Ministers is scheduled to be held next May in Istanbul. I hope that this meeting will be the appropriate occasion to finalise some of the reforms currently under consideration.

The most successful and transforming body of our Organisation has been the European Court of Human Rights. This unique institution is a success in itself. It is a paradox that the Court today faces the most serious challenges. Therefore, the reform process, which was initiated at the Interlaken conference during the Swiss chairmanship, should continue. I am pleased that the Turkish chairmanship will organise, as a follow-up to Interlaken, a high-level conference in Izmir in the spring.

Mr President, distinguished friends, like the state of affairs in today’s Europe, the Council of Europe is at a crossroads. There are serious reasons for concern in Europe. Yet, our belief in democracies to correct their shortcomings and to overcome challenges should remain unshakeable. European states must resist the temptation to turn inwards. Europe cannot escape the accelerating process of economic and cultural globalisation; on the contrary, it must embrace it. To the extent that Europe succeeds in embracing it, Europe can demand change and shape developments in the world.

Europe’s growing internal diversity, the global relevance of its shared values and the lessons learned from its past are our major assets. We all remember the speech by Winston Churchill to the Council of Europe in 1950 when he called for the creation of a “unified European Army” in the face of the communist threat. Our former foes have now become our new friends and allies. Europe has become much safer than it was 60 years ago. Yet the challenges from within Europe still exist. To overcome those menaces, we do not need to create a unified European army. What we need today is to construct a “unified European conscience” for a freer, safer and more egalitarian and united Europe.

The Council of Europe is the embodiment of our values and aspirations. Therefore, it is the right venue to nurture the European conscience. Let us work together and act together to build it. Thank you.