BAGIS'S STRASBOURG VISIT

Visiting Strasbourg to observe the elections of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis met with European Council officials.

Bagis also attended the reception organized to honor AK Party Antalya deputy Mevlut Cavusoglu at the Council building.

State Minister Bagis delivered a speech at the reception and pointed that this historical day and election was an important message to the ones feeling themselves isolated from the Western world.

Stating that Turkey was an important part of Europe, Bagis said Turkey would continue to contribute to the solutions of the problems.

Bagis also said that Turkish government gave a full support to the new PACE president.

In his speech, Mevlut Cavusoglu, the president of PACE, thanked everyone for their support in the elections. Being the first Turkish parliamentarian elected as the new President of PACE, Cavusoglu will perform the task for two years-time.

Minister Bagis came together with Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammerberg the same day. In the meeting, Turkish and European Council relations and the reform activities the government carries out on human rights and democracy were discussed.

By the end of November, Turkey will take over the term presidency of European Council Committee of Ministers.

Under the framework of his Strasbourg visit, Bagis also came together with the President of the Senate of the Netherlands Rene van der Linden who is the ex-president of PACE.

Source: AA