Turkey expects the European Council to have a constructive attitude, apart from political motives, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşo&
Turkey expects the European Council to have a constructive attitude, apart from political motives, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Monday.
“We expect the European Council, particularly the parliamentarian wing, to have an objective, constructive attitude, apart from political motives,” Çavuşoğlu said during his speech in Istanbul at the launch of Turkey’s Human Rights Action Plan.
European Council Secretary-General Marija Pejčinović Burić was also present at the ceremony, which was one of her first foreign visits since taking on her new role.
Underlining that Turkey will continue its contributions to the council to make it stronger, maintain common values and develop them even further, the foreign minister urged the council to take a stance against discriminative political movements.
“Turkey is a part of 121 conventions as of today. We are still working on becoming part of other conventions as well. We have made serious contributions to the European Council’s works on adaptability to the changing world conditions as well as new challenges,” Çavuşoğlu said.
“We are expecting the European Council to intensify its efforts to have an active response to current problems that shake our common values such as populism, discrimination, xenophobia and anti-Islam sentiments,” he further underlined.
The foreign minister said that since the foundation of the European Council, democracy, human rights and rule of law became the basic values of the council.
Regarding the ties of the council with Turkey, Çavuşoğlu said relations are getting stronger and are based on mutual benefits since both sides are motivated to work together in hard times.
When it comes to Turkey’s journey in human rights, Çavuşoğlu said in the last 20 years, more than 2,000 laws have been issued despite the challenges the country faces, such as irregular migration and terrorism.
As far as the EU membership process is concerned, the foreign minister said Turkey not only accelerated efforts for reforms and law amendments but also for changing the mentality of the people that will eventually be beneficial for the peace and wealth of Turkish society.
Pointing out the recent reform packages, such as the Judicial Reform Strategy Document and Human Rights Action Plan, Çavuşoğlu stated that they are focused on accelerating the reform process and have seen significant progress recently.