Gul to address council of Europe lawmakers

President Abdullah Gul will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) during a visit to Strasbourg next week. Gul will also have talks with officials from the Council of Europe (CoE). The visit comes as Turkey holds the rotating chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, the decision-making body of the 47-nation CoE, a post it assumed last November and is due to hold through mid-May. The PACE presidency is also held by a Turkish deputy, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Gul, himself a member of PACE from 1992 to 2001, visited PACE as prime minister in 2003 and then in 2007 addressed it as president. During its six months at the Committee of Ministers helm, Turkey says it aims to reinforce the CoE's political role, visibility and influence. Its program focuses on five priorities: CoE reform, reform of the European Court of Human Rights, strengthening independent monitoring mechanisms, EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, and meeting the challenges of multicultural societies in Europe . Earlier this week Turkey also hosted a two-day anti-discrimination conference in cooperation with the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a CoE body, as part of its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. In a statement on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said Turkey that made a $50,000 voluntary contribution to the ECRI as the holder of the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.