Ahmet Davutoglu: I don't think anyone could question the European identity of Turkey

The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu, who took over the Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, said that “debates on the Europeanization of Turkey have now reached an endpoint”.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who came to Strasbourg to assume the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, answered our questions at the Council’s radio studio.

In his speech, the Minister underlined the necessity of a radical reform in the Council of Europe, to adapt to the changing conditions worldwide and added “the Turkish Chairmanship will make every effort on this issue”.


The Council of Europe has a significant role to play in the formation process of the notions like human rights, rule of law, pluralistic democracy. Turkey has always been involved in the Council’s actions for 61 years, since the beginning. If we draw a picture from past to the present and from today to the future, what kind of picture will we see?

The Council of Europe, as a well established organization, carried the Europe of 20th century to a Europe of the 21st century. The Second World War faced tragic events and experiences. All Europeans learned lessons from the recent wars caused by authoritarian regimes and governments who ignored or did not respect fully the rule of law. The Council of Europe was founded on this basis. Since its founding,  the Council of Europe  made a great effort to prevent these tragic experiences. For 61 years, Turkey contributed to the work of the Council of Europe. Thus, with a large participation of European countries, a comprehensive Pan-European organization was founded. After the end of the Cold War, the number of the countries who wanted to participate in this work, increased. After the Cold War,  the Council faced a structural change. It was the beginning of an adaptation process to the new changing conditions. In the era of globalization, the Council of Europe faces new challenges. Therefore, speaking on behalf of the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, we believe that a process should be initiated to face these challenges in the best way.

The Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, then outlined the priorities of the Chairmanship:

We set ourselves five priorities to achieve during the Chairmanship: The first one is the reform of the Council of Europe. All international organizations are living organisms. An organisation should be flexible and capable to adapt itself to the changes. In this context, a new process should be initiated. We have to get out of our old routine of functioning. 

Secondly, the reform of the European Court of Human Rights. The reform process which has been launched in Interlaken last year, will be followed up in Izmir. We attach importance to securing the long-term effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights. We will make effort to reinforce the Council of Europe’s visibility.

Thirdly, we would like to secure the effectiveness of monitoring mechanisms and fundamental concepts. Fourthly, we will encourage the EU to accelerate the accession process to the European Convention on Human Rights. Negotiations are proceeding in this field. We hope that these negotiations would reach the last phase at least.

The Council of Europe has to deal with a great challenge, that up until now we were not fully aware of it: the issue of  multiculturalism. Nowadays, one culture is within another culture and those different cultures live together. For the future of Europe, it is important to have a society where different religions, ethnicities, cultures are living together. To determine the actions to be taken, during his visit to Turkey, I proposed to the Secretary General Jagland, to create a “Group of Eminent Persons”. After many consultations, the Group of Eminent Persons was launched and the former Foreign Minister of Germany, Fischer, undertook its presidency. From Turkey, Ayşe Kadıoğlu, is among these eminent persons. We want our chairmanship to leave its mark at the end of our presidency. We have to get out of the old routine of functioning. Thus, we are focused on the organisation rather than tackling the problems one by one. Regarding the reform process, we are expecting the Council of Europe’s Istanbul summit that will take place in May, to be a crossroad.

Europe faces an increasing level of social threats like islamophobia and xenophobia. The Group of Eminent Persons is organized within the context of the Pan-European project “Living together”. What are your expectations from this group which consists of high-ranking individuals ?

We should correctly identify the situation to find the right solutions. These highly regarded individuals should correctly evaluate the situation, bringing a new way to identify current problems and propose an applicable, practical and forward looking action plan. Then, we will need a specific mechanism to implement this report. Therefore, we will make great progress if the report is applicable and if this brings a major contribution, to find the right solutions.

Turkey chairs both the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. How will the “Turkish Sovereignity” in the Council of Europe affect Turkish foreign policy?

We are proud to see that two important people at the top of this organization are from Turkey. Mr. Çavuşoğlu is a friend of mine; however, we are working here with our European identities, carrying on the work for the future of Europe. This fact sends a message about our visibility in the European platform. The message is: Turkey is European. Europe’s most well established organisation will flourish with the Turkish contribution. A country like Turkey, based on a deep-rooted tradition of democracy and familiar with multiculturalism throughout its history, will take on this task and will help to find right solutions and correctly identify the current situations.

Is this a sign for EU? Because the Council of Europe took the first steps towards the EU. Turkey was in this process for 61 years. Thus, Turkey contributed to the creation of EU legislation and proceedings. Now, we are trying to join the EU. On the other hand, there are discussions on the “Europeanization” of Turkey. What would you like to say regarding this issue?

Actually, the fact that we are here, shows the European identity of Turkey. As you said, the Council of Europe formed the basis of the EU. If the Council of Europe had not established the notions of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the EU would have failed to make progress. But here, we are talking about two different organizations. Turkey, and I speak here, as the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, will make every effort to take the Council of Europe one step forward. As a candidate country of the EU, that is, as a country conducting negotiations with the EU, we will meet the requirements in the negotiation process. However, I don’t think anyone could question the European identity of Turkey.


/CoE.int/