On Jan. 25, 2010, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) member Mevlüt Çavuþoðlu was elected the new president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The election of Çavuþoðlu first of all is the outcome of meticulous and well-planned work by Çavuþoðlu himself. He is a very shrewd political operator and a very smart individual with a high level of social and people skills, which are indispensable qualities in his current position. I have no doubt that he will be a great president and that he will put his brand on the position. His election has ignited great interest in PACE, and most Turks are proud to see a Turk presiding over PACE in Strasbourg.

As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu expressed eloquently, Çavuþoðlu’s success signifies Turkey’s success. This makes Çavuþoðlu’s election both more interesting and challenging. He will have to take positions which may not always be welcomed in Turkey, but that is part of the job. That said, I have no doubt that he will manage the potentially delicate situations awaiting him.

Çavuþoðlu’s greatest asset is that he has a good political feel for managing the many different parliamentarians of the 47-member nation parliament. He has remarkable connections in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus and many other eastern European countries. Yet, he also has charmed the Western Europeans and operates effectively with them. In the past, Çavuþoðlu managed to gather significant support among fellow parliamentarians to propose amendments, push through resolutions or raise objections to decisions he felt were neither in the interests of Turkey nor PACE, which he has served in for many years.

What does Çavuþoðlu’s election mean from a Turkish foreign policy perspective? Well, it means a lot. Turkey is increasingly present and active in multilateral institutions. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) now has a Turkish secretary-general, and due to Turkey’s insistence, he was the first president to be elected in the history of the organization. Turkey is a member of the United Nations Security Council and a strategic partner of the African Union. Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, an able Turkish diplomat and Turkey’s permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva, was recently elected director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Turkey’s growing profile, its proactive foreign policy and increasing influence, both on the regional and global level, allow Turkey to be more visible and active in multilateral platforms. This is of course a source of satisfaction. We are proud that Çavuþoðlu was elected the president of PACE. It is particularly timely as the international media had been contaminated with ill-advised and premature opinions about a supposed change of axis in Turkey’s foreign policy. Also, in May of this year Turkey will assume the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. The committee is an important decision-making body which is composed of the foreign affairs ministers of the 47 member states or their permanent representatives in Strasbourg. Hence, there will be a significant period of time when both the chairman of PACE and the chairmanship of the committee will be held by Turkey. No doubt Turkey intends to use these two important terms as an opportunity to contribute to the values of the European Union despite our ongoing frustration with the Cyprus issue and the slow pace of negotiations.

2010 may end up being a surprisingly good year for Turkey’s European aspirations. The ongoing Cyprus negotiations have the potential to make things even more complicated, but let us not dwell on that and instead let us celebrate Mr. Çavuþoðlu’s achievement and wish him well. Teþekkürler, Mevlüt!