To the dismay of many, no high-ranking Turkish official took the opportunity to address the deputies from 47 nations or made themselves available for questions on matters that are obviously more important to Turks than others.If it’s any consolation, we were cheered up by the election of a Turkish deputy, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, as the new president of PACE, a first since the assembly was established in 1949. He took over the helm of this most important human rights watch body in Europe as a bipartisan leader who cannot simply succumb to the demands of the Turkish government and pursue national interests. Understandably he needs to maintain his objectiveness, fairness and unbiased stance -- all necessary for a responsible president who espouses European values with high regard for democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
I believe somebody dropped the ball either in the Turkish Foreign Ministry or in the government because no one showed up to address the deputies on the eve of Wednesday’s important debate on Turkey. Turkish officials and delegates might have engaged in intense lobbying and arm-wrestling behind closed doors, but that does not excuse the no-show on the floor.
Problems faced by the Muslim Turkish minority in Greece were also raised in this debate. A draft report prepared by Michel Hunault, a French deputy from the European Democrat Group (EDG), for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, criticized both countries for their lack of will to restore the rights and freedoms of minorities in their respective countries. But the “balanced report” was tilted in favor of Greece after a number of changes introduced on the floor were accepted into the final version despite an outcry from Turkish deputies.
Greek Prime Minister George A. Papandreou appeared a day before the debate on the steps of the Council of Europe and delivered a speech to the assembly. He also took the opportunity to respond to questions posed by members of the assembly. As expected, most questions focused on bilateral relations with Turkey, and he seized the opportunity to project to the floor the Greek approach on the matter. Talking afterwards with deputies from various nations, I got the impression that the impact Papandreou’s speech made had played well into the hands of at least some deputies and helped sway opinion.
On Tuesday, when a report on the situation in the Middle East was debated, both the Palestinian and Israeli sides were represented by high-profile officials to make their cases before the assembly. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Palestinian National Authority Public Works and Housing Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh delivered speeches on the floor to influence members in their favor before the report was finalized.
Where was our leadership at the Council of Europe when an important debate was going on over Turkey? Egemen Bağış, the state minister charged with negotiating EU affairs, was in Strasburg on Monday to lend his support to Çavuşoğlu on the eve of the presidential election. He had bilateral talks on the sidelines but did not address the assembly. Murat Mercan, chairman of the Turkish parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and a senior member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), came to Strasbourg on Monday to endorse Çavuşoğlu’s candidacy but left the city before the debate took place in the assembly and did not seek the chance to address the deputies.
Though not a government official, even Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, a member of the AK Party, was busy celebrating the 2009 Europe Prize, handed out by PACE to Ankara for its efforts to sign 40 sister-city agreements with cities around the world. He paid no attention to what was going on elsewhere.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has been talking about public diplomacy for a long time now. For a sustainable policy in shaping and scoring major foreign policy goals, people-to-people connections constitute one of the most important legs in this base-line diplomacy. I wonder what was more important than addressing deputies who represent people at Europe’s top human rights watch body.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu may be excused for his absence as he was quite busy last week, attending the İstanbul and later London summits on Afghanistan. He was scheduled to stop in Strasbourg later on Friday. But we have other talking heads in the government who can make the sales pitch to deputies in the Council of Europe. Had Turkey been on top of lobbying, it could have prevented the final version of the report on minorities in Turkey from getting worse.
Turkish deputies in the assembly were partially responsible for this as well. They should have anticipated that amendments would come from other deputies in the assembly. They put all their eggs in the Greek basket by having a gentlemen’s agreement not to submit any changes to the report. Our deputies even kept mum when it came to favorable terms being offered in changes concerning the Turkish Muslim minority in Greece. I sincerely hope we can draw a lesson from this experience and not let it repeat in the future.
