NOMINATION FOR 2009 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE

UNCLAS ANKARA 001703 SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO S/GWI AND EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM SUBJECT: NOMINATION FOR 2009 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE AWARD REF: SECSTATE 111471 ¶1. (SBU) Full Name: Ilknur Ustun Job Titles/ Associations: President of KA-DER Ankara Branch, Turkey Coordinator for the European Women Lobby, and General Coordinator for Women Coalition Date of Birth: May 18, 1965 Country of Birth: Turkey Citizenship: Turkish Address: Bulten Sokak 51/25 Kavaklidere, Ankara Phone Number: 90-542-681-12-22 E-mail: ilk 3@yahoo.com Passport Number: TR-L 916151 Languages: Turkish ¶2. (U) Embassy Ankara would like to nominate Ilknur Ustun, President of the Association to Support and Educate Female Candidates (KA-DER) Ankara Branch, Turkey Coordinator for the European Lobby, and General Coordinator for the Woman Coalition for the Secretary's International Women of Courage award. Ms. Ustun has been actively working on women's issues for 20 years and she has been the president of KA-DER's Ankara branch for the past six years. She has displayed outstanding courage through her efforts to eliminate discrimination against women in every walk of life, with a specific focus on increasing women's participation in politics. ¶3. (U) As an activist, one of Ms. Ustun's main areas of success is her ability to bring together Turkish women from different segments of society such as Kurdish women, women with headscarves, secular women, and feminists to work as a team and to overcome some of the traditional differences in Turkish society. Her contributions to the feminist movement have resulted in significant gains for women and paved the way for enactment of Civil Code reforms. The new code establishes provisions for the equal division of property, sets 18 as the legal minimum age of marriage for both women and men, gives the same inheritance rights to children born outside marriage as those born to married parents, and allows single parents to adopt children. ¶4. (U) Ms. Ustun has been trying to eliminate the "glass-ceiling" for women in politics and to sensitize local administrations, governments, and political parties with regard to gender issues in society. Ms. Ustun has successfully lobbied for the establishment of equality committees at all levels of government. As a result of her relentless efforts, she contributed to the establishment of the parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women in March 2009. In addition to this, as a member of the European Women Lobby (an umbrella organization formed by 2000 women NGOs from EU and candidate countries),she launched and coordinated campaigns to increase female participation in local elections, such as the "50/50 equality" and "parity" campaigns. Because of her gender mainstreaming work, seven women became candidates for village headman-ship (muhtar) in the March 2009 local elections. This was an impressive accomplishment in the face of overwhelming numerical male domination of local Turkish politics. ¶5. (U) Ms. Ustun has faced both open and veiled threats while working on women's issues. When the GOT wanted to regulate the issue of adultery in the Turkish Penal Code amendments, Ms. Ustun led female members of NGOs to launch a protest campaign. One of the acts of protest was to march to the Turkish parliament with over 1,000 women assembled from all over Turkey. After this event, a fundamentalist newspaper, Vakit, labeled Ms. Ustun as a "dishonorable" women on its front page and by doing so, Ms. Ustun believes that the newspaper made her as a target for assassination. As an indirect threat and form of harassment, state officials occasionally ask her details of her identification information due to her activism in the southeast. ¶6. (U) Embassy Ankara is nominating Ilknur Ustun for the 2009 International Women of Courage award. Please direct your questions to Political officer Rudney Hunter at hunterrm@state.gov. JEFFREY "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"