* Photograph: Şebnem Coşkun - İstanbul / AA
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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement at the 3rd International Women and Justice Summit in İstanbul today (November 23).
The summit, which has adopted "Family Empowerment" as its main theme this year, has been jointly organized by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services and the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM), where Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar has been the Deputy Chairperson since the establishment of the association in 2013.
As the association has indicated on its website, this year's Women and Justice Summit "will discuss the issues of family and challenges which affect families with a multi-perspective approach."
"Some say that we are equal..."
In his opening speech, President Erdoğan criticized the West regarding gender equality by saying, "It is not surprising that the mentality, which used woman as a commodity of the lowest kind yesterday, uses woman today in the package of equality by treating her as a commodity again."
Stating that discrimination of women due to their beliefs is not possible, Erdoğan made the following remarks regarding gender equality:
"Justice means giving everyone their due. Justice does not mean equally distributing something to everyone or treating them in the same way. You cannot weigh something small and something big at the same scale.
"Some say that we are equal... Assume that we are equal, then, let men and ladies run 100 meters at the same time. It cannot be justice.
"Women run with women; men run with men. The important point is to evaluate the outstanding features of both genders in the most ideal way possible and maintain an equilibrium in that regard."
"There is no gender discrimination in our roots"
Regarding gender-based discrimination, Erdoğan also said,
"Discrimination against women is not possible. Because the nature and creation require that we look at all of the created with the same eyes. There is no gender-based discrimination in our culture or roots."
About International Women and Justice Summit Women and Democracy Association (KADEM), in cooperation with the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services, organized the 3rd International Women and Justice Summit in Istanbul on November 23-24, 2018 with the main theme of Family Empowerment. The themes to be addressed in the 3rd International Women and Justice Summit: - Opportunities and Challenges of Families in the Modern Era - Towards a Better Work-Family Balance - Religion as the Bounding Power Of Family - Media and Family Interaction: Digitalization of Relations - Domestic Violence: A Threat to Family Union - The Impact of Conflicts and Poverty on Families Click here for detailed information about the summit |
(EKN/SD)