Parliamentary Assembly

Democracy in Europe cannot be taken for granted and has to be defended on a daily basis, Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev said on Tuesday.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov on Monday said dialogue was needed with the Russian representatives to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

After speaking before the assembly, Mitov told reporters the Council of Europe was "extremely concerned" with Russia's decision not to attend the sessions.

President Rosen Plevneliev is to deliver an address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, one of the two key organs of the CoE, on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian head of state is to answer to questions of national parliaments' representatives from all of its 47 member states, his press office has said.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss the human rights situation in Kosovo and its role in Kosovo.

This will take place during the regular winter session, to be held January 25-29.

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trThe Justice and Development Party (AKP) was successful at turning the mistakes of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to its advantage in the recent elections, according to the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE) election monitoring delegation.

A delegation of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voiced concerns over pressure on media, recent violence on political party premises and highly disproportionate coverage of different political parties by state-owned media during their meeting in Ankara Oct. 5-6.

The Council of Europe has said pre-trial detention should either be avoided as much as possible or used as a ?last resort,? noting the abusive use of pre-trial detention for politically motivated purposes is seen in several countries including Turkey.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Anne Brasseur met on Thursday in Strasbourg with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Brasseur said after the meeting she was "very appreciative of all the efforts that Serbia is making to maintain dialogue with its neighbors."

Anne Brasseur, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed her concerns about attacks targeting daily Hürriyet and the investigation launched by a prosecutor into the Do?an Media Group.

The Council of Europe (COE) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have condemned the recent attacks targeting Turkish security forces by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants as well as the latest attacks on Turkish political parties and media outlets.