WHO IS MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU?
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
12.05.2010 18:18

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
Mevlut Cavusoglu, has arrived in Armenia. His visit has given rise
to much dispute in our country, and the reason is only his Turkish
origin, but also his political path. Who is the Turkish leader of
this outstanding European structure?

Mevlut Cavusoglu was elected to the Grand National Assembly in 2002.

He represented Antalia in the Turkish Parliament of 23rd convocation.

In 2010 he was elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe.

Immediately after assuming office Cavusoglu expressed a wish to
reestablish PACE subommittee on Nagorno Karabakh. The subcommittee
had been established in 2005 and functioned until its Chairman Russell
Johnston’s death in 2008.

Official Yerevan was first astonished at Cavusoglu’s statements,
when the latter said in an interview with APA agency that "Karabakh
is referred to as Azerbaijani territory in all Council of Europe
decisions."

"The Karabakh conflict is one of the most urgent issues in the region
and hinders the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey.

I’m saying this not because I’m a Turk, but because this is the truth,"
PACE President had said. However, in a phone talks with the Armenian
Parliament Speaker he later refuted his words, saying "it was a result
of bad translation and wrong perceptions in Azerbaijan."

Such way of action does not suit a high-ranking European official,
Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan says. "An elected high-ranking official
has no right to act that way. He behaves as a representative of Turkey,
and it’s a pity that a structure like PACE fails to show a proper
response to such behavior. He actually shows that he separates himself
from Europe and represents the state of Turkey," Safrastyan said.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, one of the founders of the ruling Justice and
Development Party has been in charge for foreign relations. Maybe,
that is the reason why he seldom communicated with the Armenian
community of Turkey.

"Cavusoglu has not played a great role in the domestic life of Turkey.

As regards Armenia and Armenians, his policy should not be viewed
separately from that of Turkey, as a whole," Turkologist Ruben
Melkonyan said.

Mevlut Cavusoglu is known also for his statements on the Armenian
Gencoide. In particular, he once declared in an interview with
Haberturk TV Channel: "Although Armenia accuses us of committing
genocide, it has no proofs of the fact, since we have not perpetrated
genocide. Armenians themselves have perpetrated genocide in Khojalu,
and its history is still very fresh."

This statement is interesting not because Mevlut Cavusoglu denied the
Armenian Genocide, but because he tried to give a legal assessment
to separate episodes of the Karabakh war. After all this, one wonders
whether a politician with such principles and approaches has the right
to assume a mediating role in the process of peaceful settlement of
the Karabakh conflict.