FIFTY YEARS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE: BUILDING EUROPE WITHOUT DIVIDING LINES

Abstract

When in September 1989 the late Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he referred to the “common European home” mentioned by President Mikhail Gorbachov two and a half months previously in his speech to the same Assembly. Mr Özal stressed that it could only be a democratic house based on pluralism. He continued: “However, we cannot have a common house by just having a juxtaposition of different rooms. We should all be able to move freely from one room to another. For that to be achieved, we have to start by strolling in the same garden. In this context, one should recall Abraham Lincoln’s saying: ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ In other words, the members of the common house should share common ideals and values. They should be able to communicate with each other so that disputes are resolved by peaceful means. They should all have common aspirations and objectives for the future of Europe."