In my opening statement at the fifth annual Strasbourg Summer University for Democracy on the theme ‘Crisis of Leadership’, I put emphasis on the following points:
I also took this occasion to announce that the Akdeniz University in my home town of Antalya, Turkey, would be very happy to play an active role in relation to the Summer University and the Schools of Political Studies.
This high-level conference was held under the auspices of the President of Kazakhstan and was attended by many distinguished guests, including Mr Sampaio, High Representative of the UN Secretary General for the Alliance of Civilizations.
In my introductory address, I stressed that parliaments must be the driving force behind the elaboration of national action plans for intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. In my opinion, they must contribute to such plans not only through ideas and political impetus, but also through parliamentary control of the executive which has to implement them. Besides such specific plans, I called on parliaments to take into account the intercultural and inter-religious dimension in their overall legislative work.
On this occasion, I held a series of bilateral meetings, including with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, with whom we discussed, in particular, the potential for the Kazakh Parliament of the Partner for Democracy Status with the Parliamentary Assembly.
On 1-2 July, I carried out my official visit to Moscow and met the Speaker of the State Duma Mr Boris Gryzlov, the Chairman of the Federation Council Mr Sergey Mironov, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Sergey Lavrov, the leaders of the political groups in the State Duma and representatives of NGOs. I also held a conference with the young Russian political leaders.
At the press conference held at the end of my visit, I expressed my satisfaction at the current positive climate in relations between the Assembly and Russia. I recognized that there were questions on which our opinions differ and demands which Russia had to fulfill. However, I expressed my conviction that, if we work together as partners with mutual respect and without double standards, progress would be achieved even on these difficult issues. In this connection, I referred to the Assembly’s resolution on the situation in the North Caucasus adopted during the June part-session of the Assembly as a was a very good example of such partnership
I took this opportunity to urge my interlocutors to fulfill the requests made in Assembly resolutions concerning the conflict between Georgia and Russia. Given that political talks are taking place on Geneva, I expressed my opinion that we must concentrate on humanitarian issues to improve the life of ordinary citizens, in particular as regards access and the presence of international monitors and organizations, the return of IDPs and the investigation of human rights violations.
My visit took place just before the visit of the Assembly’s co-rapporteurs on the monitoring of the obligations and commitments of Russia. Leaving to them the task to assess progress, or the lack of it, since the last monitoring report adopted in 2005, I pointed out that the recent legislative changes, including improved access for political parties to the state media, seemed to be a step in the right direction.
My interlocutors conveyed to me their concerns about the re-writing of history, in particular as regards the assessment of the Second World War. On this matter, I declared that interpretation of history should be left to historians and should not be used to attack other countries or nations, or justify inhuman and racist ideologies. I invited politicians to be more responsible and look towards the future.
Finally, I welcomed the willingness of Russia to contribute to reforms within the Council of Europe, including the European Court of Human Rights. The ratification by Russia of Protocol No. 14 to the Convention was a very important step and I thanked again both Houses of Parliament for voting in favour of this ratification at the beginning of this year.
On 3-4 July, I visited the city of Yaroslavl and held meetings with the Governor of the Yaroslavl region, Mr A. Vakhrukov, and members of the Regional Council.
Together with Mr Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and with the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr Erdogan, I attended on 11 July the commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. We jointly took this opportunity to stress our commitment to reinforce Europe around our common values to prevent such terrible tragedies in the future.
I took part in the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva on 19-21 July 2010. The broad theme for the 2010 conference (the two previous ones were held in New York in 2000 and 2005 respectively) was “Parliaments in a world of crisis: securing global democratic accountability for the common good”.
In my speech, I outlined the role of the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly in ensuring democratic accountability at European level: in particular, through our monitoring mechanisms; through debates on the major challenges facing our societies; and through developing parliamentary dialogue and parliamentary diplomacy. I also quoted the Assembly’s 2010 debate on the state of democracy in Europe, which reached the conclusion that democracy has also to be developed beyond representation.
Finally, I stressed that the Parliamentary Assembly is also the pan-European forum for the Speakers of national parliaments. I therefore invited the participants in the Conference to consult the conclusions of the latest European conference which took place in June 2010 in Limassol and the topics of which were closely related to those discussed in Geneva.
Following the decision of the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs in April 2010 to award the 2010 Europe Prize to the city of Kharkov, I took part in the award ceremony on 23 August, together with the Chairman and members of the Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize and the Mayor of Ankara, city that won the Europe Prize last year.
It is the first time a Ukrainian town has won this prize. Kharkov has already been awarded three European distinctions prior to the Europe Prize, in particular because of the number and depth of friendly ties that the city had built up – including 17 twinnings with towns across the world.
In the course of my official visit to Romania I met the highest authorities of the country: the President, Mr Basescu, the Speakers of both Chambers of Parliament – Mrs Anastase and Mr Geoana and the Minister of Foreign Affairs – Mr Baconschi. I also met Patriarch Daniel, Head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, who accepted my invitation to address the Parliamentary Assembly at one of the next part-sessions (possibly April 2011), and I addressed the annual meeting of the Ambassadors in Bucharest.
During the meetings, discussions focused on how Romania can contribute to the solution of the problems which all European countries have to face today. I stressed how much the Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe as a whole are involved in fighting racism, xenophobia and discrimination of all kind and praised Romania for the successful dealing with minority issues and the efforts aimed at increasing integration of minorities in the political, economic and social life of the country.
In my talks, I also encouraged the authorities to intensify the fight against corruption and called for the continuation of the judicial reforms, also with a view to reducing the number of applications lodged before the European Court of Human Rights.
On regional issues, together with the Romanian authorities, we expressed our deep conviction that the political crisis in Moldova must be solved in a democratic and transparent manner by the Moldovan people. I stressed that the Assembly would observe the constitutional referendum on 5 September and expressed the hope that it would be a beginning of the political stabilisation of the country.
On 2 September 2010 I lead the Parliamentary Assembly Presidential Committee, at the Joint Meeting with the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere. European Parliament President Buzek and I underlined the positive developments in the relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union, including the many high level contacts, and stressed the importance of continuing this development.
Discussions focused on the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and in particular the right of the European Parliament to appoint and send a certain number of representatives to PACE when the latter elects judges to the European Court of Human Rights. Participants also agreed on the importance of having an informal body in order to coordinate information sharing between the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly.
During my visit in Stockholm, I met Swedish EU Affairs Minister Birgitta Ohlson and the State Secretary to the Prime Minister Gustaf Lind. I praised Sweden for its active role in both the Council of Europe and the European Union, and urged it to continue supporting the reform processes within both organisations, including EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. My interlocutors were interested in the current priorities of the Council of Europe. They also reiterated Sweden’s firm support for Turkish accession to the EU.
On 3 and 4 September I attended a series of seminars on the role of Turkey in the European Union, organised in Stockholm and Göteborg by the Swedish-Turkish Federation.
The role of the media in fostering intercultural dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding: freedom of expression of the media and respect towards cultural and religious diversity were at the centre of discussions between some 150 participants from all over Europe, experts, academics, media professionals, religious leaders from various origins, representatives of non confessional-communities.
In my speech at the opening, I stressed the need to appreciate that there are diverse sensitivities which come together and inter-relate with each other. Not merely cohabitation of different religions and cultures in our states and in Europe is at stake, so is the co-existence of our societies with those of the world at large.
I also indicated that we must ensure that the media perform a role of mediation and help create an environment conducive to better understanding of the various religious beliefs and cultural approaches.
I pointed out that intercultural dialogue is one of the prime topics for the Assembly, and it is one of the priorities for my term as President of the Assembly. I therefore intend submitting to the Bureau a proposal for the organisation of a major debate on intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, based on a background report by the competent Assembly committee, in the course of next year.
During my official visit, I meet President Viktor Yanukovych, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mrs Yulia Timoshenko and the leadership of coalition and opposition factions, as well as Mrs Nina Karpachova, Ombudsperson, and NGO representatives.
I also visited Odessa and met professors and students of the Odessa Law University as well as representatives of the local and regional authorities.
I stressed that, after years of political instability, the holding of a democratic presidential election and the creation of the new governing coalition gave Ukraine a unique change to carry out the reforms, which your country urgently needs – in particular as regards judiciary (including the Prosecutor’s Office), electoral legislation and the fight against corruption. I also reiterated that according to the texts adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly, constitutional changes were also necessary to ensure clear separation of powers between executive, legislative and judicial branches.
I congratulated the President for his ambitious reform programme and reiterated the support and assistance of the Council of Europe for these reforms. I said that that speed of reforms was important, but stressed that equally important was the quality of the adopted legislation, which must be based on international legal standards and expertise. In this connection, I urged the authorities to seek systematically opinions of the Venice Commission before draft laws are adopted.
Furthermore, I stressed that the role of the opposition is extremely important. Therefore, I invited the authorities to associate different political forces of the country with the reform process. In this connection, I also invited the authorities to resist the temptation of excessive concentration of power and to ensure a long-standing political stability based on political pluralism.
The local election on 31 October will be an important political test. I called on the authorities to respect democratic rules at all stages of the election process, including registration of candidates, access to media, work of election commissions and the actual voting.
The freedom of media is one of the best indicators of the state of democracy. Therefore, I urged the authorities to take firm steps to reply to some allegations concerning possible state pressure on the media and, in particular, properly investigate the disappearance of a Kharkov journalist Mr Klymentyev.
Last but not least, we discussed the right of minorities. I welcomed the fact that Ukraine acceded to the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages and invited the authorities to implement the recommendations made to them as regards the use of minority languages in public administration, education and media.
In this connection, I also called for the implementation of the Presidential Decree from May 2010 concerning measures to integrate the Tatars of Crimea in order to improve their social-economic situation and enhance their participation in the social, cultural and political life.
The fulfilment of the commitments in the Council of Europe is necessary for the integration of Ukraine in the European Union. In this connection, I gave my full support to the European aspirations of the Ukrainian people and to the visa free regime with the European Union.
My official visit to France included meetings with the Speaker of the National Assembly Bernard Accoyer and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner, as well as a working lunch with the Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche, in which also participated the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Yves Le Fur, the Chair of the European Affairs Committee Pierre Lequiller, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Axel Poniatowski, and members of the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, chaired by Jean-Claude Mignon.
The main topics of these meetings revolved around relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union and the need to avoid overlap between the two institutions, in particular with regard to the EU Agency of Fundamental Rights and the planned parliamentary dimension of the EU Eastern Partnership – Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. My interlocutors were greatly interested in the future accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights.
I called on France, as a host country of the Council of Europe, to be one of the driving forces of the ongoing reform process of the organisation, aiming at making it better focused, more efficient and more visible.
The Roma issue was another topic widely discussed during all the meetings. My interlocutors appreciated the initiative of the Council of Europe Secretary General for a high-level meeting on Roma. We shared the view that such a constructive approach, involving all the European countries and drawing on the expertise of the Council of Europe and the financial means of the European Union, would be the best way to find appropriate solutions.
I equally took part in a hearing organised by the European Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, where I presented the main priorities of the Council of Europe and the need to enhance cooperation with the European Union.
On the occasion of my visit to Paris, I equally met the Governor and Vice-Governors of the Council of Europe Development Bank.
I participated in the Third European Heritage Forum on the theme: "Cultural Heritage, Participation, Prosperity – Contribution to cohesion and prosperity in today’s societies through sustainable use of heritage resources" and delivered a speech (available on the website of the Assembly).
The Forum was the closing event of the 25th anniversary of the European Heritage Days, which is a joint activity of the Council of Europe and the European Commission.