24/04/2013 President
Strasbourg, 24.04.2013 – “In the run-up to my forthcoming official visit to Turkey, scheduled for 13-15 May 2013, I welcome the adoption by the Assembly of Resolution 1925 (2013) on Post-Monitoring Dialogue with Turkey, which acknowledges the major progress made by the authorities in honouring their undertakings and obligations to the Council of Europe, while drawing up a list of specific recommendations geared to speeding up this process,” declared today the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Jean-Claude Mignon.
“During this visit I would also like to mention the negotiations between the Turkish authorities and Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK, an organisation which is still included in the EU list of terrorist groups. I would like to repeat my firm condemnation of all forms of terrorism, and hope that these negotiations will lead to a final cessation of violence and a political solution to this problem,” concluded the President.