The United Nations General Assembly voted to seat the Turkish Republic as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Turkey is elected for the Western European and Others Group with a majority of 151 votes out of 192, to serve from January 1, 2009, through 2010.  It has been almost 48 years (1961) since Turkey completed its first term as a non-permanent member. We are all delighted with this recent development, which was announced last Friday and coincides with a period when we are getting ready to celebrate the 85th anniversary of our republic.  The striking majority in the number of favorable votes indeed demonstrates our position in the international community as a committed and diligent contributor to peace.  Despite the half century that elapsed since our first term in the Security Council, we have lead and participated in numerous peace keeping operations and conflict resolution initiatives beyond our immediate region. ATAA sincerely believes that Turkey's presence in the Security Council for the next two years would generate a revival of progression in the U.N. reform process.  We also thank the international community for supporting Turkey's candidature.