Türkiye

Turkish women's groups have been traditionally divided along ideological lines. But they are uniting behind the initiative, launched in March by a non-partisan group called Women Meet Halfway, to have women who wear headscarves placed high enough up on party lists so that they stand a decent chance of being elected.

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan, who had a meeting with the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) female deputy candidates over the weekend, told them that they will be the hope of not only Turkish women, but also of women in neighboring countries.

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Political parties have announced deputy candidate lists. Women organizations argue that female deputy candidates were placed in the least likely spots on the lists to be elected and were used like filling materials. Daily Hürriyet dittoed the issue on April 13, “Demanding 275 female deputies in Parliament, which is half of 550 in total, and launching a campaign in this direction, the Righteous Women Platform is not satisfied with the number of women candidates.

With a general election looming, one of Turkey’s top business groups has highlighted the need for greater female representation in national and local politics with a cover story in the latest issue of its magazine.

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With a general election looming, one of Turkey’s top business groups has highlighted the need for greater female representation in national and local politics with a cover story in the latest issue of its magazine.  “More women, better politics,” was the front-page headline on the latest issue of “Görüş” (Viewpoint), a magazine published by the Turkish Industry & Business Association, or TÜSİAD.

This week in Istanbul 13 European countries signed a Council of Europe convention on combating violence against women. All 47 members were urged to comply. Turkey pushed hard for the convention, which calls for hotlines, shelters and legal aid for abused women.

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Merve Kavakci Islam was elected to parliament in 1999, but was prevented from taking her parliamentary oath because she wears a headscarf. Then Kavakci's political party, Virtue [Fazilet Partisi], was shut down for violating the secularist articles of the constitution and her Turkish citizenship was revoked, banning her from politics for five years.

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24.4 million male and 25 million female voters will head to the ballot box on that date. The number of female voters has surpassed that of male voters in Turkey’s past three elections and the same is true for the 2.5 million Turkish citizens casting votes from abroad. According to research done before and after the 2002 and 2007 elections, female voters tend to favor the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at the ballot box. The party shown to have the fewest female supporters is the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Women are likely to increase their share of parliamentary seats in Turkey’s elections on Sunday, but the gender gap remains wide as the EU-hopeful country struggles to overcome patriarchal traditions.
“Men want to play politics with men. Women annoy them in the political arena, which they consider as their own domain,” said Ezgi Kocak from the KA-DER association, which supports women in politics.