“The Council of Europe has had a significant role in Turkey’s progress in the past 15 years. We will press ahead with our plans for constitutional and institutional reform and will continue to heed the Council of Europe’s recommendations,” said Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Turkey’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
“Our country has demonstrated its ability to reform itself,” he pointed out, “by introducing numerous mechanisms to protect rights, by making it easier for political parties to expand, by allowing schools to educate people in languages other than Turkish, by stepping up our efforts to combat discrimination, by ratifying the revised Social Charter, by signing up to a whole series of Council of Europe conventions and protocols, enabling us to strengthen democracy and the rule of law.” “By implementing the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly, we have managed to open a number of chapters in the European Union negotiation process,” he added.
He also paid tribute to the victims of the attempted coup d’état which took place on 14 and 15 July and to the Turkish citizens “who took to the streets to stop the attempted coup”. “All the political parties, both ruling and opposition parties, came together and rose up to condemn the attempted coup and to reiterate their belief in democracy,” he said, adding that the state of emergency had been introduced in line with the Constitution to eliminate the threat to the country, its institutions and citizens.
“Since the failed coup, we have further strengthened our ties with the Council of Europe. The threat has not gone away, however. Terrorist movements are seeking to destabilise our democracies and undermine our values. We cannot allow terrorists to take control of our lives.” (more...)