STRASBOURG - Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Tuesday that ruling parties should always remember that they were representatives not only of majority that they represented, but also representatives of whole nation.
Arinc delivered a speech in a session on democracy of the conference of parliament speakers of Council of Europe (COE) member countries in Strasbourg.
Stating that democracy was not a stable and unchangeable phenomenon, Arinc said that democracy renewed itself and developed continuously.
Arinc said that democracies could succeed on the condition that different views reached compromise on common points for the benefit of society and regime.
Noting that another problem in function of democracy stemmed from discriminative attitudes against different faiths and ethnical groups, he said that there should be tolerance and mutual respect in the core of democracy philosophy.
Stating that democratic countries approached tragic events that occurred in Balkans, Caucasia and the Middle East by considering their own political interests, he said that if countries had approached the problem by considering democratic ideals, there would not have been any genocide, torture and massacre in those regions.
(EÖ-AÖ) 18.05.2004