No: 179, 19 June 2015

As one of its founding members, Turkey attaches special importance to the work of the Council of Europe, which is the only pan-European institution in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

With this understanding, Turkey has become one of the major contributors (grand payeur) to the budget of the Council of Europe as of 2016. In the meantime, the Council of Europe has decided to increase the current number of seats allocated to the Turkish members in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 12 to 18 in proportion to Turkey’s population and amended the Statute accordingly effective from 16 June 2015. Similarly, the seats of Turkish members in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will be increased.

The increase in the number of seats allocated to Turkish members will on the one hand enable Turkey to express its views through a stronger representation in the Council of Europe’s deliberations in the field of parliamentary and local democracy, and on the other to contribute more effectively to the efforts for finding solutions to current problems and challenges in the international arena, particularly in our continent.