The Council of Europe Human Rights Representative Alvaro...

The Council of Europe Human Rights Representative Alvaro Gil-Robles said that the Council of Europe was aware of the fact that a very important period started in Turkey.
"But we have to take it to a deeper level. It should not only remain on the paper, at a shallow level," he said when he spoke at a conference at Galatasaray University about the protection of human rights in Europe.
Robles said that the Human Rights Representation was founded in the Council of Europe in 1997. The unit is responsible for the development of human rights in member countries, the adjustment of laws to the European Convention of Human Rights and help for the implementation of the same.
"Human rights is never a luxury. We cannot reach anywhere if we don't defend the principles in the European Convention of Human Rights, right to life against authoritarian and totalitarian regimes and freedom of expression," he maintained.
Drawing attention to capital punishment, Robles said "Abolishing the death penalty is very important. The death penalty is revenge and the signing of article 6 has become a precondition for membership," he said.
Robles noted that after the September11 attacks, there are rumours that a number of European countries demanded to suspend the European Convention of Human Rights. Such a development would be a victory for terrorism, he said.