"The rising awareness of some given religious groups should not reduce freedom of expression any further". The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) took this position at the end of the debate on freedom of expression and respect of religious beliefs, which was also attended by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Pace, which closes its summer session in Strasbourg today, passed an act drawn up by the Finnish delegate Sinikka Hurskainen, which states that "a society cannot be considered democratic unless it has the fundamental right of freedom of expression". "Such freedom should apply not just to ideas that are welcome or harmless, but also to those ideas that could hurt, offend or upset the state or part of the population, pursuant to article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights". In addition, the Assembly invited the communication operators to discuss "the ethics of mass media regarding religious beliefs and religious sensitivity".
