March 8 message from AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan: Women are not behind men, but by their side

Speaking at the 'March 8 International Women's Day Iftar Program' in Istanbul, President Erdoğan said, "Violence against women is a betrayal of humanity." Erdoğan stated, "Turkey is among the leading countries that provide the strongest response to these injustices and oppressions on earth, starting from its immediate surroundings. Wherever there is a fire, we try to carry water there."

Highlights from President Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

I congratulate the International Women's Day of the poor and suffering women of Africa; the oppressed women of Afghanistan, Arakan, and Somalia; the Lebanese women whom Israel has left longing for peace in their own lands; and all women in the West who are crushed under the ruthless teeth of the cinema, fashion, and media sectors and subjected to violence and abuse; I send them both our messages of solidarity and our heartfelt greetings from Turkey.

I pray for God's mercy and forgiveness for all the women we have lost to terrorism and violence in our country, along with those who have lost their lives due to wars and oppression.

WOMEN SUFFER THE MOST FROM CONFLICTS

We are observing International Women's Day at a time when women's issues are worsening on a global scale, and women are experiencing very difficult days, especially in our immediate vicinity. I believe that everyone who puts their hand on their conscience can see the picture very clearly. Unfortunately, there is conflict in different parts of the world today, especially in our region. Women suffer the most from this. Today, the world is facing a great injustice in income distribution; women are the biggest victims of this. Today, there is discrimination in the world stemming from superstitions, tribalism, and wrong customs and traditions; this situation negatively affects women the most.

WE TRY TO BE A BALM WHEREVER A WOUND IS BLEEDING

We are among the leading countries that give the strongest response to all these oppressions and object to discrimination and lawlessness wherever they may be. Just as in our neighbor Iran, wherever there is a fire, we try to carry water there; wherever a wound is bleeding, we try to be a balm for it. Our female sisters are the greatest guardians of our country's dignified stance that centers on human values. Despite all the negativity that breaks our hopes, I thank you all once again for your support for our country's blessed struggle with the belief that a fairer world is possible.

I would like to express this here with pride and gratitude: If our state is, as the late Kemal Tahir said, the "Mother State," this is thanks to your encompassing maternal compassion and devotion. If we have raised our country, which was exhausted after successive wars and finally the War of Independence, and if we have brought our Republic to the age of 103 by strengthening it every day, your sacrifices and labor as women have an undeniable share in this. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles they faced, they have made unique contributions by working tooth and nail in production and labor.

WOMEN ARE NOT BEHIND MEN, BUT BY THEIR SIDE

Women are not behind men, but rather by their side. Shoulder to shoulder, regardless of whether we are men or women, we are all inseparable parts of a whole. Regardless of gender, we are all roses of the same garden, strings of the same instrument. Whoever discriminates, in the name of whatever or under whatever pretext, is betraying the values that constitute the essential identity of this nation. Whoever commits violence against women and children, or worse, oppresses them, has not received their share of humanity. Those who confine women and men to sexist brackets are actually obscuring the fact that both are first and foremost human beings.

WE HAVE FOUGHT GREAT BATTLES

With this understanding, since the day we entered the political scene, we have strived for women to participate in social and political life actively and equally. We have truly fought great battles to break deep-rooted prejudices and eliminate wrong practices. Both our guests here and our citizens watching us on their screens know very well what we have done to strengthen the status of women and remove the obstacles before them. I find it useful to share some regulations and figures with you here as a summary of the summary.

We increased the labor force participation rate of women, which was 27.9 percent when we took office, to 34.7 percent. In the same period, the female employment rate rose from 25.3 percent to 31.7 percent. Another success of ours is political representation. In 2002, there were only 24 female members of parliament serving in our parliament; this number rose to 119 in the last elections. The representation rate of women in Parliament reached 19.83 percent, a 5-fold increase. We see the same success in the rate of female public employees. We opened wide all the doors that the tutelary mentality of February 28 had closed to women in the public sector. By ending the headscarf ban, we ensured that women could work in all layers of the bureaucracy without encountering any obstacles or pressure.

In particular, we tore down all the walls built in front of women in professions that were kept out of their reach, such as academia, civil service, the judiciary, and the military. Today, not only our female sisters who could not be persuaded in the persuasion rooms, but also their children are working in every institution, showing their presence in the public sphere, and standing out with their successes in the business and political worlds. Women are no longer forced to choose between living according to their faith and practicing the profession of their dreams. As an indicator of this result, the rate of female public employees has risen from 34.2 percent to 43.38 percent in just the last 12 years.

ZERO TOLERANCE FOR VIOLENCE

Another bleeding wound of ours is violence against women and children. We have always acted with a "zero tolerance" approach on this issue. We have always acted with a "zero tolerance" approach on this issue. With the amendment we made to the Turkish Penal Code in 2005, we crossed an important threshold in preventing violence against women. In 2012, we put into effect Law No. 6284 on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women, and we made it mandatory for municipalities with a population of over 100,000 to open guest houses. In 2014, we increased the penalties for sexual crimes with the regulation we made in our Penal Code. In 2020, we established specialized courts within the scope of Law No. 6284. In 2021 and 2022, we strengthened deterrence by increasing the penalties for crimes committed against women. We confirmed and registered our sensitivity on this issue with the Presidential Circular we published in 2023.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IS A BETRAYAL OF HUMANITY

We have increased the number of our Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers to 86. Our 112 women's guest houses affiliated with our Ministry are currently serving in all 81 of our provinces. We have made our protective and preventive services accessible with social service centers, the number of which we have increased to 434, and violence prevention contact points. With the Alo 183 hotline and our Women's Support Application (KADES), we stand by women 24/7 in their smallest troubles. We have implemented many administrative and legal regulations, reforms, measures, and sanctions that would take us hours to count here. Our stance on violence against women and children is clear: Whatever its name may be, violence against women is a betrayal of humanity."

News Source: 12punto