Humanitarian situation of the displaced Kurdish population in Turkey

Doc. 9547

18 September 2002

Humanitarian situation of the displaced Kurdish population in Turkey

Recommendation 1563 (2002)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 807^thmeeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (11 September 2002)

The Committee of Ministers has examined Recommendation 1563 (2002) of the Parliamentary Assembly on the humanitarian situation of the displaced Kurdish population in Turkey with close attention.

It has brought it to the attention of member governments and communicated it to the Council of Europe Development Bank.

Like the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers welcomes positive developments in the humanitarian situation in the region as compared to the situation presented in Recommendation 1377 (1998). The Committee of Ministers also welcomes the considerable decrease in violence and tension in the region over the last two years, sharing also the Assembly’s awareness that full security in the area is the essential precondition for mass returns of the displaced Kurdish population.

The Committee of Ministers is fully aware of its responsibilities to ensure that the relevant rulings of the European Court of Human Rights are implemented. It will continue its constructive dialogue with its member state, Turkey, on all the humanitarian and economic issues raised by the Assembly. It will encourage in particular, an increased role by the Council of Europe Development Bank with regard to projects related to the return of displaced persons.

Finally, the Committee of Ministers recalls the importance it attaches to seeking solutions, also at regional level, to the concerns raised by the Assembly, and recalls in this connection the Vilnius Declaration on Regional Cooperation and the Consolidation of Democratic Stability in Greater Europe, adopted at the 110th ministerial session on 3 May 2002.