Council of Europe must avoid new dividing lines: Turkey

ANKARA

The Council of Europe must avoid new dividing lines in Europe and it should fight together against them, Turkey said Friday.

#CoE must avoid new dividing lines in Europe. Should prevent politicization of expert mechanisms that only undermines its credibility. Must fight together against rising xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, hate speech, and populism. @coe #CoEHelsinki pic.twitter.com/skn8GODGC4

— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) May 17, 2019

"#CoE must avoid new dividing lines in Europe. [It] should prevent the politicization of expert mechanisms that only undermines its credibility," tweeted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Cavusoglu was in Finland on Friday where he was set to participate in a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Europe's top human rights watchdog.

"[The council] must fight together against rising xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, hate speech, and populism," Cavusoglu said.

Meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Helsinki, Cavusoglu said a "Strategic Dialogue Mechanism" meeting will soon be held between Turkey and Germany as well as intergovernmental consultations between two countries.

Finland is expected to hand over the presidency of the Committee of Ministers to France during Friday's meeting.