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Women in politics necessary to overcome polarization in Turkey
Speaking at the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGİDER) April breakfast meeting, held at the Point Hotel Barbaros in İstanbul yesterday, Ağırdır said there is at the present time severe political polarization in the nation, with 55 percent of Turks directly adopting the opinion of their political leaders. He maintained that these divisions were very difficult to overcome without the participation of women. “There are three dimensions of polarization in Turkey. These are the Turkish-Kurdish divide and those based on politics and lifestyle. It is for this reason precisely that there is a need for women politicians,” he said.
Releasing the results of a study titled “Women’s Representation in Politics” to members of the press, Ağırdır said the results illustrated that the issue is not one of tangible conditions such as providing an education, but one of a mindset and perception. “The statistics show the literacy rate in 1935 to be 10 percent and the rate of female members of Parliament to be 5 percent. In 2007 the literacy rate was 80 percent. In contrast, the rate of women in parliament that same year was only 9 percent. The problem is not literacy, but mentality,” he said.
The Association for Education and Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER) commissioned the study, which maintains that when women’s civil rights are limited, their political rights are also affected. Ağırdır said that while there have been female politicians in the past, some of them were not too different from the men, in terms of their mindset. He thus highlighted the need to conduct politics as a woman, by means of thinking as a woman. “Otherwise, we will not be able to overcome this polarization,” he said.
Stating that while political parties claim the electorate did not want female parliamentary candidates, Ağırdır said the study results did not support this argument. “According to the results of our most recent research, the candidates being male or female makes no difference for 63 percent of the electorate,” he said.
Also speaking at the meeting, fifth-place Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate in the first electoral region of İstanbul KAGİDER member Mihrimah Belma Satır said she was one of the founding members of the AK Party and, most recently, was a member of the party’s Central Executive Board (MYK) and disciplinary committee. “Politics is a longwinded undertaking. Women need to persevere in politics. In the event of my becoming a member of Parliament, I will be the representative of women and İstanbul,” she said.
AK Party 17th-place candidate in the first electoral region of İstanbul Meltem Gürler, also a KAGİDER member, said Parliament would formulate a new constitution in the new parliamentary period and that it would function as a Founding Parliament. Gürler said she put forward her candidacy in order to be part of this effort and contribute to the number of women represented in Parliament. “One of the most important committees in Turkish history is being established. I wish to be a part of this,” she said.
KA-DER Chairwoman Çiğdem Aydın and KAGİDER President Gülden Türktan also addressed the audience. The KONDA study was conducted with 5,434 participants spanning 36 provinces, 180 districts and 380 neighborhoods and villages.
KA-DER’s campaign is supported by prominent women such as Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) President Ümit Boyner, writer Ayşe Kulin, journalist and writer Ayşe Özgün, pop singers Gülben Ergen, Sertab Erener and Nil Karaibrahimgil and Hürriyet board chairwoman Vuslat Doğan Sabancı.
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