İstanbul’s neighborhoods headed by 150 women, 812 men

"We, women, have a word to say and the power to change in local elections"

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İstanbul, the most populous city in Turkey, has 962 neighborhoods. 150 of them are currently headed by women.

While six districts have only one woman neighborhood head each, five districts of the metropolitan city have no woman neighborhood head.

The highest rate of women neighborhood heads is in Beşiktaş district, where 14 of the 23 neighborhoods are governed by women, which accounts for 61 percent of all neighborhood heads in the district. Beşiktaş is followed by Kadıköy district with 57 percent.

When İstanbul is considered as a whole, the rate of women neighborhood heads is 15 percent. In Beylikdüzü, where there are 10 neighborhoods, five are governed by women and five are governed by men.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), in the districts of Bağcılar, Bayrampaşa, Çatalca, Esenler, Sultangazi and Tuzla, there is only one woman neighborhood head each. As for Adalar, Arnavutköy, Bahçelievler, Kağıthane and Sultanbeyli, which have 88 neighborhoods in total, there is no woman neighborhood head in office.

One of the women heading a neighborhood in İstanbul is 70-year-old Yüksel Sağat, who has been the head of Abbasağa Neighborhood in Beşiktaş district for the sixth term since the year 1994.

Referring to the time when she was first elected, Sağat recalls that Tansu Çiller was the Prime Minister of Turkey at the time, adding that she was encouraged by this: "I said, 'If there is a woman Prime Minister, then, why shouldn't be there a woman neighborhood head?'"

She adds, "We were fortunately elected and since then, the residents of the neighbourhood have been electing us even though there are other candidates. And we respect them and cherish love."

Talking about her works and efforts for the neighbourhood, Yüksel Sağat notes that of the 23 neighborhoods in Beşiktaş, 14 are led by women.

Gülşen Ergün, who was elected the head of Beşiktaş Cihannüma Neighborhood at the by-election in June 2021, also says:

I think we hold the Turkey record. The Confederation of Neighborhood Heads has confirmed this as well. As far as we know, we hold the Turkey record. We are 14 women neighborhood heads. We become more successful, we take up a meticulous approach, we see the details... That may be why we are prefered. We should leave our houses a bit now, we should be a bit more social. While the place of women across the world is completely different, it should be completely different across Turkey as well.

(EMK/SD)