18/10/2011 President
Strasbourg, 18.10.2011 – Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), today welcomed the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas as “good news”.
“It is a sign, at a difficult time for the peace process, that sustained negotiations are possible and more effective than the continuation of a stalemate between Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.
“The release of soldier Gilad Shalit was one of the key issues the Assembly said it would follow when it granted the Palestinian National Council ‘Partner for democracy’ status on 4 October 2011. I am happy that our new partnership, put in place thanks to the work of our PACE rapporteur on this topic Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), is already bearing fruit.
When I met President Abbas on 6 October in Strasbourg, he told me of the efforts being made to encourage this prisoner swap. Its successful conclusion is a welcome sign that our Palestinian partners are serious about fulfilling their commitments to PACE.
Our Assembly has also called for imprisoned members of the Palestinian Legislative Council to be released, and I hope that they are among those included in the exchange,” Mr Çavuşoğlu added.
The PACE President payed tribute to the Egyptian and Turkish authorities, who have played an important role in mediating the exchange.