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Council of Europe Summit closes urging democracy in Belarus

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  • Council of Europe Summit closes urging democracy in Belarus

    Council of Europe Summit closes urging democracy in Belarus

    Deutsche Presse-Agentur
    May 17, 2005, Tuesday
    13:32:59 Central European Time

    WARSAW -- Calls for democracy in Belarus and agreement on the Warsaw
    Declaration charting the course for the Council of Europe over the
    coming years closed debate at the council's summit in Warsaw Tuesday.

    Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski slammed human rights
    violations in Belarus and called for the democratisation of Poland's
    eastern neighbour, dubbed by other leaders at the summit Europe's
    last dictatorship.

    Kwasniewski was echoing calls made Monday by senior leaders from
    France, Georgia, Latvia and Lithuania among other states that
    Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko introduce sweeping
    democratic reforms which would allow Belarus to join the Council
    of Europe.

    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, one of the few Western European
    government heads attending the summit, on Tuesday underscored the
    indispensability of the council in safeguarding democratic rights
    across the continent, including freedom of speech in the media.

    Also speaking at the summit's closing debates, Turkish Prime Minister
    Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised parliamentary resolutions by European
    states honouring up to 1.5 million Christian Armenians who died or were
    killed in massacres and deportations by Ottoman Turks during 1915-23.

    Erdogan termed the killings the "so-called Armenian genocide" and
    said current discussions amounted to "lobbying" which Turkey would
    not support. But he also declared his country was prepared to open
    its archives and called on Armenia and other states to do the same
    to review the events of 90 years ago.

    Armenian President Robert Kocharian, who also attended the summit,
    called Monday for the 1915-23 killings to be recognised as genocide.

    While Armenia and most historians say between 1.2 and 1.5 million
    ethnic Armenians died or were killed by Moslem Turks in a bloody wave
    of deportations and massacres, Turkey says there were no more than
    300,000 dead and that they were not deliberately planned or desired.

    The Council's 46-member states on Tuesday also signed a formal
    declaration of cooperation with the Organisation for Security and
    Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) aimed at co-ordinating their work for
    human rights and democratic freedoms.

    The OSCE is the world's largest regional security organization with 55
    member states. It shares the fundamental objectives of the 46-member
    council, but includes members from outside Europe.

    Tuesday's agreement is intended to avoid overlap in the work carried
    out by both bodies. Attention was also focussed on cooperation with
    the European Union, which although distinct from the Council, includes
    25 of it's member states.

    The Council of Europe Warsaw Summit brought together 37 European
    heads of state and government for two days of debates focussed on
    human rights, the rule of law and security issues.

    The summit was the council's third since its establishment in 1949.

    At the close of debates Tuesday, Poland handed over the Chairmanship
    of the Committee of Ministers to Portugal, which will hold the rotating
    office for the next six months.

    Three treaties were endorsed by several but not all member states
    during the summit, according to the Council of Europe press service.
    Some 14 states signed a convention on action against trafficking in
    human beings, 18 states signed a convention on money-laundering and
    11 states inked an agreement on the prevention of terrorism.

    All members were expected to sign the documents in the near future,
    a senior Polish official said.

    About 1,000 left-wing and anti-globalisation activists as well as
    Buddhist monks led a largely peaceful protest march through Warsaw
    on Monday urging Council of Europe member states to withdraw troops
    from Iraq and to oppose gross human rights violations in Chechnya.

    Established in the wake of World War II, the Council of Europe is
    the continent's oldest political organization. It currently groups
    46 European countries and is primarily focussed on safeguarding human
    rights and fundamental democratic freedoms across the continent. dpa
    sib ch sc sr
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