Mr. Minister,

Mr. Secretary General,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour and privilege for me to take over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers from my dear friend Antonio today. I would like to congratulate him for his successful tenure, let me say in Macedonian “Ti chestitam Antonio” and express my willingness to continue the close cooperation and coordination with the outgoing chairmanship together with the upcoming ones in carrying out our mandate in the next six months.

I should like to stress that the priorities of the Turkish Chairmanship have been defined with a view to reinforcing the political role, the visibility and the influence of the oldest pan-European organisation on the European and international scene.

Turkish chairmanship will make every effort to put the Council of Europe back on the international scene as an innovative, more flexible and visible organisation so that it can adapt itself to the changing political landscape.

In this context, we set ourselves five priorities:

1.    Reform of the Council of Europe

2.    Reform of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

3.    Strengthening the monitoring mechanisms

4.    Acceleration of the accession process of the EU to the Convention (ECHR)

5.    Finding ways and means to overcome challenges of multicultural European societies

Moreover, the activities envisaged during our chairmanship are selected keeping in mind the constructive and leading role that the Council of Europe can play particularly in addressing the challenges Europe is facing. The calendar for main events, while highlighting the significance of the main bodies and the independent mechanisms of the Council of Europe, it also places special emphasis on issues which are at the top of our agenda.

Firstly, let me state that our chairmanship will continue to support the reform agenda of the organisation and cooperate with the Secretary General on the implementation of the reform package.

Secondly, Turkey gave itself the aim of following up the reform process of the Court which has been launched in Interlaken on 18-19 February 2010.  We attach importance to securing the long-term effectiveness of the European system of protection of human rights. We will host a follow-up conference in April 2011 in Izmir in this context.

Thirdly, Turkey believes that the independent tools of the organisation to monitor obligations related to the respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law make this organisation unique. We would like to highlight the important role they play in raising the standard of life of European citizens by organising conferences, seminars or workshops. We are planning to invite other European or international actors active in that specific field in order to provide a broad perspective and to promote comparative advantage of the Council of Europe mechanisms.

Turkish chairmanship will encourage the EU to accelerate the accession process to the ECHR. We believe that this will provide a coherent system of fundamental rights protection throughout the continent and reinforce the credibility of the human rights’ system in our continent Europe. To this end, we will work closely with both the EU and the Council of Europe in finding solutions to the technical problems raised in the negotiations on the accession.

Last but not least, the Chairmanship, concerned with the resurgence of intolerance and discrimination, believes that the Council of Europe is still the most relevant actor to deal with these challenges in multicultural European societies.  Knowing that, it requires a collective political will and a concerted effort, I proposed to create a “Group of Eminent Persons” who have the expertise and a particular interest in the subject.

I would like to thank the Secretary General for sparing no effort to gather 9 highly recognised individuals who can bring a new perspective to the identification of current problems and to the definition of a new concept of “living together” that we can propose to the citizens of European societies.

I would also like to thank Mr. Fischer, Prof. Ash, Ms. Bonino, Mr. Hirsch, Mr. Hubner, Prof. Kadıoğlu, Ms. Licht, Mr. Lukin and Mr. Solana for accepting to become a member of the Group and prepare a report as a basis for possible future Council of Europe action.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are aware that this is an ambitious programme for the chairmanship. At a time when the Council of Europe is at a crossroads, we did not have another option.  We, the Turkish people, have always supported the principles and values that this organisation have promoted for more than 60 years. We believe that it still has a significant role to play in the European architecture.

Today, therefore, while we celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), we should focus more on how to make this organisation politically more visible and relevant. This could be realised with the political commitment and the active involvement of all member states.

The Council of Europe is the only forum for pan-European cooperation on the basis of binding commitments, common standards and independent monitoring mechanisms. We should all act together for keeping this organisation as the beacon of human rights, the rule of law and democracy in Europe for the next generations. I count on the support and cooperation of all member states in carrying out our agenda and hope that the next Ministerial meeting in Istanbul will reflect the outcome of our collective efforts in this direction.