Turkey’s First Woman Party on Its Way

Turkey's first Woman Party is establishing with a group of woman’s visit to Ataturk’s Mausoleum after they submitting the party registration request to Interior Ministry.  

Departing with the notion that democracy cannot exist without the presence of women, the party aims to bring to a woman perspective on to all laws, rules, regulations, or decisions of local or central administration. 

"We set out with the aim of struggle against social gender's discrimination and inequality, discrimination of language, religion, ethnical identity and gender tendency, military and civic coup, hate speech. We know  that life styles are individual's free choice. We believe that all of them is noble and they cannot be judged.

"We promise to be a struggle platform, the voice and words of those who resist by following a new political mentality that listens others and struggle together instead of asserting that ‘we know everything’.

Previously, Benal Yazgan, Party's Founder Chairperson,  run in 2011 general elections as independent candidate from Istanbul under the umbrella of Woman Party Initiative. Yazgan is also one of the co-founders KA.DER Kadıköy Branch.  

Quotas are reversing

While Woman Party pledged to bring a zip system in rankings, they said they will use the "Equality Formulation-Justice Formulation" until reaching an equal representation in Turkey’s political climate.

According to this formulation, the number of men and women candidates will be equal in both local and general elections. 

Election Threshold

Woman Party will also bring a system where its members have more leverage in the administration and can influence on the decision directly.  

They also expressed that they will struggle to change the current political party and election law according to improve democratic representation as well as decreasing the electoral bar to 3 percent and equal distribution of state aids to political parties. 

Presidential Elections

As presidential elections are coming, Woman Party criticized that there are no women candidates. "This actually proves that the establishment of Woman Party is already late." (ÇT/GOA/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.