22/04/2026 | 10:53:03 President, Dear colleagues, I am here today to give a voice to millions of women who have been silenced. Their safety was traded for political manoeuvring. Turkey’s experience is not a footnote; it is a systematic alarm for the integrity of human rights across Europe. In March 2021, at midnight, a presidential decision was published. And we woke up to a unilateral and undebated presidential decision attempting a withdrawal of Türkiye from the Istanbul Convention. It is a war on human rights... 21/04/2026 | 11:51:06 Thank you, Mister Chair. Distinguished Colleagues, We stand at a crossroads where violence against politicians is no longer an isolated incident, but an alarming trend rising across many of our member states. As this report states, violence has no place in a democracy. We are witnessing a "chilling effect" undermining our representative institutions. When intimidation and dehumanizing rhetoric become the standard tools of political engagement, it is our democratic pluralism that pays the... 29/01/2026 | 10:47:00 Thank you, Madam President, Dear colleagues, The situation concerning Greenland is not a peripheral dispute nor a theoretical exercise in geopolitics. It is a clear and concrete test of the resilience of the international order and of our collective commitment to international law. Under positive international law, the United States has no title to any legitimate claim of sovereignty over Greenland. This is not a matter of political interpretation, but of settled law. As the draft resolution... 28/01/2026 | 10:25:26 Thank you, Mister President. Dear colleagues, I would like to begin by thanking the Rapporteur for this timely report. It rightly focuses on meaningful youth participation, social inequality, and the structural barriers that prevent young people from fully engaging in democratic life. Young people across our societies are asking not for symbolic gestures, but for real influence. Participation limited to consultations or advisory panels is no longer enough. Democracy must evolve towards a... 27/01/2026 | 16:31:28 Thank you, Madam President, Dear colleagues, I thank Mr Damien COTTIER for this report, which addresses the pressure that crises exert on democratic institutions and electoral processes. This report speaks directly to the reality my country, Türkiye, is living today. In Türkiye, we are no longer debating abstract risks to democracy, we are experiencing them. Our presidential candidate, Mr Ekrem İMAMOĞLU, has been unjustly imprisoned. His university diploma was revoked to eliminate him from... 26/01/2026 | 18:08:42 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear Colleagues, The recent wave of detentions in Türkiye, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İMAMOĞLU, the presidential candidate of our party, marks a critical turning point for our country’s democracy. Mayors of Adana, Antalya, district mayors across Istanbul have also been detained, based on politically motivated allegations. Let us be honest: this is a civilian coup carried out through courtrooms. Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN's regime is now... 03/10/2025 | 10:51:36 Thank you. I would like to warmly thank to Mr Edmunds CEPURĪTIS for his excellent report. As youth rapporteur in the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, I must emphasise that sexual violence and abuse and target of children, including boys, also takes place online through the Internet and social media. As in all our work, including in its youth dimension, we need to look at the circumstances in which men and boys, in all diversity, are faced with sexual violence. And I welcome the... 02/10/2025 | 20:25:10 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear Colleagues, We are told that political parties are the pillars of democracy. Yet across Europe and beyond these pillars are cracking under the weight of distrust, exclusion, and the corrosive influence of money in politics. Parties should be vehicles for collective emancipation, for giving voice to the silenced, the marginalized, and the oppressed. Instead, they often dominated by political elites, interests of big business, or wealthy... 01/10/2025 | 16:55:44 Thank you, Madam President, And I also would like to thank the rapporteur for his vital report. Indeed, freedom of speech for young people and youth movements is not only a right; it is the lifeblood of democracy and the safeguard of rights and the engine of civic participation. While welcoming the attention given to youth activism, I must draw special attention to the situation in Türkiye. Young people in Türkiye are both the brightest hope and the heaviest burden of our democracy, of... 30/09/2025 | 11:27:58 Thank you. Dear Colleagues, Today in Türkiye, democracy has been reduced to a shell of its true meaning. There are elections, but no genuine public will. There are courts, but no justice. There is a parliament, but little voice of the people. Because without the rule of law, elections become empty rituals, and democracy remains an illusion on paper. We know this all too well. Elected mayors, Istanbul, Adana, Antalya, chosen by millions of votes, have been unlawfully removed and replaced by...