Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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09ISTANBUL12 | 2009-01-07 14:58:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Consulate Istanbul |
1. (SBU) Summary: Women NGO leaders gathered for lunch hosted by the Consul General on December 17, 2008, commented on the growing conservatism on the part of the Turkish government (GOT) over the past year which ultimately impaired women's rights. According to the leaders present, a tendency toward socially conservative government decision-making resulted in the closure of one domestic violence shelter and the loss of government funding for one of only two shelters for trafficking victims in Turkey. They contended that positive change is limited in part due to a shortage of female politicians, and as March municipal elections approach, one attendee noted that only one female candidate has been nominated by any party to fill one of 3,225 mayoral offices in Turkey. End Summary. 2. (SBU) According to Ipek Ilkkaracan from Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR), an independent NGO founded with the aim of promoting women's rights in Turkey and internationally, the GOT recently renewed for another 10 years its protocol with WWHR's Education Program for Women which has been in effect since 1996. The renewal came with some uncertainty, she explained, because an official of the Social Services and Child Protection Institution consistently expressed his concern that the women's human rights education program might harm the family. Ilkkaracan said the official expressed the same worry at the recent signing ceremony, despite the fact that the WWHR presented survey results showing that the relationships between the participants and their children and husbands greatly improved as a result of the training. 3. (SBU) Physician Berna Eren, Executive Director of the Human Resource Development Foundation (HRDF) said that the term "family planning" was removed from the title of "Mother and Child Services and Family Planning Clinics" in 2002, after the AKP became the ruling party. Now no preventative health services are provided, she said, only screenings. Additionally, because men have insisted that their wives not be seen by male doctors, she pointed out that these clinics are now staffed only by women. Eren also related that beginning in July 2008, the Istanbul municipality reneged on its 2004 protocol to cover the rent of the HRDF shelter for trafficking victims. She said that the municipality explained that its inability to continue support was due to legislation prohibiting its funding of NGOs. Municipal support for this shelter was a crucial component of their funding and, if an outside source does not fill in the gap again as it did this year, she feared HRDF may have to close the shelter in July 2009. Eren blamed the municipality's decision on growing conservative tendencies and the municipality's desire not to be associated with issues related to the trafficking of women. 4. (SBU) Canan Arin, lawyer and founding member of Mor Cati - a women's rights organization that also provides a domestic violence shelter in Istanbul - concurred with Eren's observations. She said the conservative trend in GOT actions also impacted the funding for Mor Cati's shelter. According to Arin, the district governor recently withdrew its funding to Mor Cati's shelter without a clear explanation. Noting also that more female political participation might combat such decisions, she lamented that the female AKP minister and MPs have done nothing to encourage women's rights and gender equality. "The right women need to be in power." Hulya Gulbahar from KADER, an association dedicated to increasing the percentage of women in politics by supporting women candidates through lobbying and campaigning, pointed out that so far parties have put forth only one female candidate for candidacy (pre-primary candidate) in the March municipal elections. The AKP party had yet to name a single female candidate, she said, despite its stated objective of having 15 percent female representation in government. Others agreed with her that this was 15 percent only in the municipal boards (city councils) and not at higher levels. 5. (SBU) When responding to a question about how to encourage female participation, Gulbahar and Ilkkaracan noted that access to politics is very expensive and political empowerment is inseparable from economic empowerment. Gulbahar explained that the cost of being a candidate for the office of mayor of a mid-sized district is around 500,000 YTL ($333,333) beyond additional fees for application. According to Ilkkaracan, because men are more economically powerful they will maintain political power until women "earn" their own. She continued by explaining that this situation will not change until the traditional roles of women allow for income-earning activities. (Comment: Turkey's 25 percent female workforce participation rate is the lowest in the ISTANBUL 00000012 002 OF 002 OECD. End Comment.) A recent time-use study found that Turkish women spend six hours daily on household chores and childcare while Turkish men spend on average less than one hour. Without more childcare support, Ilkkaracan said, the average Turkish woman is challenged to find economic empowerment outside of the home. WWHR is working on a comparative survey project on time-use, childcare, and eldercare solutions in Mexico, France, South Korea, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey, and Ilkkaracan said they plan to present the findings in May. 6. (SBU) Comment: All participants commented that this negative trend of growing government conservatism makes it more difficult to support women's rights and even broader women's issues, such as health and economic empowerment, in Turkey. To bolster the efforts of women's organizations, the Consulate General plans to support/provide/fund speakers from the United States for the WWHR time-use conference, as well as for a female entrepreneurship conference, both in May. The Consulate General is also planning events in the upcoming months to help raise breast cancer awareness by working with MEVA (Breast Cancer Foundation of Turkey). End Comment. Wiener |