Turkish premier addresses lawmakers at the Council of Europe

STRASBOURG (A.A) - 13.04.2011 - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday addressed European lawmakers at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.
Erdogan said Turkey was the only Muslim and secular country in its region, and he went on saying, "secularism that we have adapted from France has been discussed for decades and used as a tool of oppression over freedoms due to improper practices. It has been almost interpreted as a wall in front of democratization."
"After a long time, especially during our government, all these debates have been left behind and Turkey proved to the world with concrete practices that Islam, secularism and democracy could survive together," he said.
Erdogan also said that Turkey had become a model in its region while secularism had been re-opened for debate in Europe and turned into a tool to restrict freedoms. 
"It is such an irony," he said.
Erdogan added that European countries should not turn a deaf ear to rising demands for freedom and rights from Mideast and North African nations as it would be very dangerous to consider those demands too early for some countries or democracy was deserved by only a segment of the world.
He said the outcry for human rights from Mideast and North African countries must be supported by everybody.
"From now on, we must stop seeing oil wells when we look at the Middle East and North Africa. We must focus on the ongoing tragedy," he said. "We do not want to see new Iraqs new Afghanistans in the Middle East and North Africa."
Erdogan said Turkey had not taken sides about what's going on in the region. He said, "we are not in pursuit of an interest or in a hurry to get a part. We are just trying to get solutions only for peace and stability of the region with our active foreign policy based on principles."
On Turkey's relations with EU, Erdogan said Turkey's membership has been blocked by artificial foot-dragging and populist reasons. 
"I would like to repeat it clearly that Turkey needs EU and EU needs Turkey," Erdogan said. "We expect Turkey's EU bid to be seen in a fair point of view, and we expect Europe to keep its pledges made to Turkey."