26/05/2011 | President
The information according to which the Serbian authorities have arrested the former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic is great news for the future of Serbia, for law and justice and the fight against impunity,” PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said today. He paid tribute to the Serbian authorities for the arrest, stressing that he had repeatedly expressed his confidence in the authorities’ efforts to do everything possible to apprehend the remaining indictees of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
26/05/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today welcomed the imminent release of Azerbaijan opposition journalist Eynulla Fatullayev and others, following their pardon by the country’s President Ilham Aliyev. “With Mr Fatullayev’s release, the authorities of Azerbaijan put an end to the injustice done to this journalist, who has already spent far too much time in prison..."
16/05/2011 | President
Following the recent sentencing of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau to five years of imprisonment, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, today strongly condemned the ongoing politically motivated trials by the Belarusian courts of the former presidential candidate as well as several other representatives of opposition parties, independent journalists and human rights defenders.
13/05/2011 | President
“The action of the Congress and of the Assembly is very much complementary,” said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, addressing the Bureau of the Congress today in Antalya. “The challenges our societies have to face today are complex in their nature and require a comprehensive and joint response at national, regional and local level”, he added.
12/05/2011 | President
Following the earthquake that yesterday hit the region of Murcia, PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu today addressed a message of solidarity to the Presidents of the Spanish Senate and Congress of Deputies: "On behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly, I would like to express my profound sympathy to the people of Spain following the earthquake which hit your country yesterday in the region of Murcia. At this difficult moment, I would like to ask you to convey to the families of the dead and on those who have been injured our expression of great solidarity and sympathy, and to offer our encouragement to the assistance teams which are providing relief to those affected."
11/05/2011 | President
Speaking on the occasion of the 121st session of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers meeting in Istanbul today, PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu stressed that he personally considered that a Council of Europe Summit was needed to get the necessary level of political commitment to implement the measures proposed by the Group of Eminent Persons of the Council of Europe in a report on “Living together – combining diversity and freedom in 21st century Europe”.
09/05/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu today expressed his distress and deep concern following reports that 61 boat people have died after their appeals for rescue were ignored. Reportedly, their boat was left to drift in the Mediterranean for 16 days. “If this grave accusation is true – that, despite the alarm being raised, and despite the fact that this boat, fleeing Libya, had been located by armed forces operating in the Mediterranean, no attempt was made to rescue the 72 passengers aboard, then it is a dark day for Europe as a whole,” he declared.
29/04/2011 | President
Following the terrorist attack in Marrakech on 28 April, the PACE President extended his sincere condolences to the Speakers of the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors of Morocco: "May I extend to you my sincere condolences on my own account and on behalf of all members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on the occasion of the terrorist attack which rocked your country yesterday..."
28/04/2011 | President
Croatia is “on the right track” in its European integration and could become a model for other Western Balkan countries in their drive for EU membership, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, speaking mid-way through a two-day official visit to the country (28-29 April). The country has made “remarkable progress in establishing democratic norms and practices, in the protection of human rights and in building a state based on the rule of law”, the President said, demonstrating its potential to play the same positive role when it becomes an EU member.
26/04/2011 | President
National parliaments must play a key role in stemming the flood of applications submerging the European Court of Human Rights, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, speaking today at the opening of the High-Level Conference on the future of the Court in Izmir, Turkey. Parliaments should "rigorously and systematically verify the compatibility of draft and existing laws with the Convention’s standards", the President pointed out, which would prevent some cases reaching Strasbourg in the first place. Secondly, they should apply pressure on governments to rapidly implement the Court’s judgments when violations were found.
26/04/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will make an official visit to Croatia on 28-29 April 2011. During his visit, he is due to meet the President of the Republic Ivo Josipović, the Speaker of Parliament Luka Bebić, the Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Gordan Jandroković.
21/04/2011 | President
The President of PACE and the leaders of the Assembly’s five political groups have saluted the Tunisian people’s determination to build “a genuine democratic society based on universal values”. Speaking at the end of a visit to Tunisia by PACE’s Presidential Committee, they said the government and people were managing the transition well, leading the way for other countries in the region. They also welcomed the creation of a series of commissions to prepare the democratic transition which were established on the basis of a wide agreement between political forces, NGOs and experts.