Overview of the position of women in Turkish politics
Women in Turkey
have an active participation in national politics, and the number of women in the
Turkish parliament
has been increasing steadily in recent elections.
Background
[
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]
The
Republic of Turkey
was founded on the heartland of the disintegrating
Ottoman Empire
on 29 October 1923. Although the political influence of some
Valide Sultans
(queen mothers) over the
Ottoman Sultans
was considerable, especially during the era known as the
Sultanate of Women
, women had no chance to serve in any official political post in the Ottoman era.
One notable female political activist in the first days of the Republican era was
Nezihe Muhiddin
, who founded
the first women's party
in Turkey in June 1923; however, it was never legalized because the Republic was not officially declared yet.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
, the founder of the Republic initiated a
series of reforms
to modernize the country, including civil and political equality for women for the first time. On 17 February 1926, Turkey adopted a new
civil code
by which the rights of Turkish women and men were declared equal except in suffrage.
[1]
Turkish women achieved voting rights in local elections by Act no. 1580 on 3 April 1930.
[2]
Four years later, through legislation enacted on 5 December 1934, they gained full universal suffrage, earlier than many other countries.
[2]
President
[
edit
]
There have been no female president to date.
Meral Ak?ener
ran for office in the 2018 presidency election.
Speaker of Parliament
[
edit
]
Up to the present, there have been no female
Speakers of Grand National Assembly
in Turkey.
Vice president
[
edit
]
The post of vice President was established in 2018 and there have been no female
Vice Presidents
in Turkey.
Prime Minister (1920?2018)
[
edit
]
Tansu Ciller, a
Turkish
career professor of economics since 1983, entered politics in November 1990, joining the conservative
True Path Party
(DYP). On June 13, 1993, she was elected the party's leader, and on 25 June the same year, Ciller was appointed the
Prime Minister
of a
coalition government
, becoming Turkey's first and only female prime minister to date. She served at this post until 6 March 1996 in the
50th
,
51st
and the
52nd government of Turkey
.
No.
|
Portrait
|
Prime Minister
|
Took office
|
Left office
|
Time in office
|
Government
|
President
|
22
|
|
Tansu Ciller
(1946? )
|
25 June 1993
|
5 October 1995
|
2 year, 256 day
|
I. Ciller
(50th government)
|
Suleyman Demirel
|
5 October 1995
|
30 October 1995
|
II. Ciller
(51st government)
|
30 October 1995
|
6 March 1996
|
III. Ciller
(52nd government)
|
Prime Minister office was abolished in Turkey in 2018.
Government ministers
[
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]
The first female Turkish
government minister
was
Turkan Akyol
, in 1971. She was the
Minister of Health
in
Nihat Erim
's technocratic government.(
33rd government of Turkey
)
[3]
[4]
In 1983, she was one of the founders of
SODEP
, short for Social Democracy Party, a new party which went on to become one of the major political parties of Turkey in 1980s.
Female government ministers up to the present are as follows:
Distribution of female ministers by party in long term
Deputy Speakers of the Parliament
[
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]
Although no woman council president has served in the
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
until today, several politicians have served as the
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament
at different times. In 1972, the first female deputy president of the Republic of Turkey CGP parliamentary deputy has been
Nermin Neftci
. Some of the other female deputy speakers were
Meral Ak?ener
(MHP),
Guldal Mumcu
(CHP) and finally
Ay?e Nur Bahcekapılı
(AK Party) for a long time.
[9]
[10]
[11]
Party leaders
[
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]
The first female
Turkish party leader
was
Behice Boran
(1910?1987). A member of the
Workers Party of Turkey
(T?P), she was elected as the chairwoman of the party in 1970 and continued in this post until all the political parties were closed following the
September 11, 1980 military coup
.
[12]
Other female party leaders were:
- Mubeccel Goktuna
(1915?1999)
National Women's Party of Turkey
(TUKP) (1972?1981)
- Rah?an Ecevit
(1923?2020),
Democratic Left Party
(DSP) (1985?1987),
Democratic Left People's Party
(DSHP) (2010)
- Tansu Ciller
(born 1946)
True Path Party
(DYP) (1993?2002),
(
Prime Minister
from 1993 to 1996)
- Nesrin Nas
(born 1958),
Motherland Party
(ANAP) (2003?2004)
- Filiz Kocali
(born 1958),
Socialist Democracy Party
(2004?2009)
- Gultan Kı?anak
(born 1961),
Peace and Democracy Party
(BDP), (2011?2014)
- Sebahat Tuncel
(born 1975)
Peoples' Democratic Party
(HDP) (2013?2014)
- Figen Yuksekda?
(born 1971),
Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey)
(2014?2017) co-chair
- Emine Ulker Tarhan
(born 1963),
Anatolia Party
(2014?2015) As of 2014, she is the founder and leader of the party.
- Fatma Benal Yazgan
(born 1947),
Women's Party (Turkey)
(2014-present)
- Meral Ak?ener
(born 1956),
Good Party
(2017?present) co-founder and leader
- Serpil Kemalbay
,
Peoples' Democratic Party
(2017?2018) co-chair
- Pervin Buldan
(born 1967),
Peoples' Democratic Party
(2018?present) co-chair
Women's parties
[
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]
Two parties were founded by women:
National Women's Party of Turkey
in 1972 (up to 1980) and
Women's Party (Turkey)
in 2014
Parliamentary Group Vice Chairwoman
[
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]
According to the
Turkish constitution
, each party with over twenty seats forms a
parliamentary group
and each group is represented by 1?3 group vice chairpersons (
Turkish
:
grup ba?kanvekili
) who are authorized to represent, in general terms, the relevant party in the parliament both in relation to the parliament administration and in relations with other party groups, as well as presiding the parliamentary group in the absence of the party president. The first female group vice chairperson in Turkish parliament was
Oya Araslı
of the
Republican People's Party
between 1996 and 1999.
[13]
Later, there were two parliamentary group chairwomen in parliament:
Emine Ulker Tarhan
of the Republican People's Party and
Pervin Buldan
of the
Peace and Democracy Party
.
[14]
Members of Parliament
[
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]
The first female MPs of the Turkish Parliament, elected with the 8 February
1935 general elections
.
1935?1999 elections
[
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]
Following the promising 1935 start, however, the number of women in the parliament began to decrease.
[15]
Especially in the 1950 and 1961 elections, only 3 women were able to enter the parliament, and since history has been given women the right to vote and be elected, it has been the least women entered into parliament.
Election year
|
Ratio of Women MP
|
Number of Women MP
|
Total Number of Deputies
|
1935
|
%4,6
|
18
|
395
|
1939
|
%3,7
|
15
|
429
|
1943
|
%3,7
|
16
|
435
|
1946
|
%1,9
|
9
|
465
|
1950
|
%0,6
|
3
|
487
|
1954
|
%0,7
|
4
|
541
|
1957
|
%1,3
|
8
|
610
|
1961
|
%0,7
|
3
|
450
|
1965
|
%1,8
|
8
|
450
|
1969
|
%1,1
|
5
|
450
|
1973
|
%1,3
|
6
|
450
|
1977
|
%0,9
|
4
|
450
|
1983
|
%3,0
|
12
|
399
|
1987
|
%1,3
|
6
|
450
|
1991
|
%1,8
|
8
|
450
|
1995
|
%2,4
|
13
|
550
|
1999
|
%4,2
|
22
|
550
|
2002?present elections
[
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]
Since 1995, the number of women in the parliament has been continually on the rise. The 1935 percentage of women, the first year that women were able to be elected to parliament, was surpassed no earlier than in 1999.
[16]
However, the female representation rate did not fall below 10 percent after the 2011 elections.
[17]
Election year
|
Ratio of Women MP
|
Number of Women MP
|
Total Number of Deputies
|
2002
|
%4,4
|
24
|
550
|
2007
|
%9,1
|
50
|
550
|
2011
|
%14,3
|
79
|
550
|
2015
June
|
%17,6
|
97
|
550
|
2015
November
|
%14,7
|
81
|
550
|
2018
|
%17,1
|
103
|
600
|
2023
|
%20,1
|
121
|
600
|
Members of the Senate (1961?1980)
[
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]
The
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
had a
Senate
(upper house) between 1961 and 1980. The following women were elected as the senators:
Governor
[
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]
Turkey's first female
governor
was
Lale Aytaman
. Aytaman, who served as the governor of
Mu?la
between 1991 and 1995, was appointed to this position by President
Turgut Ozal
. Meanwhile, Turkey's first female district governor is Ozlem Bozkurt Gevrek. She served in the
Orta district
of
Cankırı
in 1995. After these years, the number of female governors and district governors increased rapidly.
[23]
Local governments
[
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]
The first Turkish female mayor was
Sadiye Hanım
who was elected as the mayor of the town of
Kılıckaya
in 1930.
The first female
muhtar
(
village head
) in
Turkey
was
Gulkız Urbul
, who became the muhtar of
Demircidere
village (now Karpuzlu) in the
Cine
district of
Aydın Province
in 1933. In the elections, she ran against seven male candidates.
[24]
The first female major city mayor was
Mufide ?lhan
, who was elected as the mayor of
Mersin
in 1950.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Sina Ak?in:
Kısa Turkiye Tarihi
, Turkiye ?? bankası Kultur yayınları,?stanbul,2011,
ISBN
978-9944-88-172-2
p.188.
- ^
a
b
Turkiye'nin 75 yılı
, Tempo Yayıncılık, ?stanbul, 1998, p.48,59,250
- ^
a
b
Turkiye'nin 75 yılı
, Hurguc Gazetecilik, ?stanbul,1998
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
"Erkek egemen Turkiye"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). 2010-12-11
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
Babacan, Nuray (2012-02-06).
"Eski Calı?ma Bakanı'nı bile 'ye?il kart testi'ne ca?ırdılar"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish)
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"I. Ciller Hukumeti Bakanlar Kurulu 25.06.1993?05.10.1995"
(in Turkish). TBMM
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"Celikel: F tipine insani cozum"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish)
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi 23. Donem Milletvekili-Fatma ?ahin"
(in Turkish). TBMM
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"?lk kadın TBMM ba?kanvekili vefat etti"
.
www.hurriyet.com.tr
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
- ^
Parliament page/Meral Ak?ener
(in Turkish)
- ^
Parliament page/?ukran Guldal Mumcu
(in Turkish)
- ^
"T24 online newspaper"
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
- ^
"CHP'ye 12 yıl sonra kadın grup ba?kanvekili"
.
Radikal
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
- ^
"Meclisteki kadın yonetcilerden ca?rı"
.
Milliyet
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
- ^
"Meclis'te kadının adı yine yok"
.
www.hurriyet.com.tr
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
- ^
An Afyon University paper by D. Ali Aslan
(in Turkish)
- ^
"Kadın milletvekillerinin temsil oranı arttı"
.
www.aa.com.tr
.
- ^
"Tutanak C. Senatosu B: 36 18.1.1966 O:1"
(PDF)
(in Turkish). TBMM
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"T?P'li Fatma ??men'in olumu"
.
Milliyet
(in Turkish). 2006-05-18
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"C. Senatosu B: 53 29.4.1975 O: 1"
(PDF)
(in Turkish). TBMM
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"biyografi.net: Nermin Abadan Unat biyografisi burada unlulerin biyografileri burada"
.
www.biyografi.net
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
- ^
"82nci Birle?im"
(PDF)
.
Cumhuriyet Senatosu Tutanak Dergisi
(in Turkish).
13
. TBMM. 23 Oct 1979
. Retrieved
2013-02-02
.
- ^
"Mesleklerine Gore ?lk Turk Kadınları | KPSS Guncel Bilgiler"
.
www.kpssguncelbilgi.com
.
- ^
"Turkiye'nin ilk kadın muhtarı/Tarih/milliyet blog"
.
blog.milliyet.com.tr
. Retrieved
Apr 30,
2020
.
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Lists of female holders of political office
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National politics/government/legislatures
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