In his speech at the Women Empowering with Turkey and Empowering Turkey program, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the first and most important condition of a strong family is a strong woman and said, "This being the case, all kinds of things that separate women from families, place women against the family, and build walls between women and families "We reject the approach," he said.
"With this understanding, in our meetings with women, we announced new projects, programs and strategy documents in a wide range from prevention of violence to empowerment of women, from employment to rights and freedoms," said Erdoğan, adding: We have done and will do whatever is necessary to ensure that they benefit fairly. We strived to strengthen women's economic and social status with support mechanisms, reform packages and innovative practices. The latest example of this is the Women's Empowerment Strategy Document and Action Plan, the general framework of which our Minister of Family has just shared. Our Strategy document, covering the period 2024-2028, is based on 5 main pillars. I congratulate those who contributed to the preparation of this document, which consists of 5 basic objectives, 20 strategies and 83 activities, in the person of our Minister of Family. "I believe that our private sector, business world and non-governmental organizations, as well as our public institutions, will do their part to properly implement the document," he said.
Noting that there has long been a segment of people in Turkey who have been allergic to the concept of family, Erdoğan said, “They have virtually declared war against the concept of family with the claim of modernization and westernization. We are talking about such a corrupt perspective that they are even disturbed by the concept of family in the name of our Ministry. Another feature of them is that, when it comes to words, they do not leave freedom, democracy, human rights and law to anyone. But they are also the ones who marginalize anyone who doesn't fit their mold. "If you ask, they will say they defend women's rights, but during tutelage periods like February 28, they openly support the usurpation of women's rights to education, work and political representation," he said.
“WE REMOVED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FROM BEING SUBJECT TO COMPLAINT”
Stating that they have made positive discrimination in favor of women, especially freedom for the headscarf, a constitutional rule, President Erdoğan said, “We have implemented practices such as ŞÖNİM, women's guesthouse, KADES and electronic handcuffs. We have removed domestic violence from being subject to complaint. We have taken historic steps in many other areas. "As a result of these efforts, the rate of completing at least one level of education for women has increased from 70 percent to 90 percent," he said.
Stating that the rate of female representation in decision-making mechanisms has increased 4-5 times, Erdogan said, “The number of women in employment increased from 6 million to 10,5 million. We showed that we stand by women entrepreneurs with the support package launched under the leadership of my wife, Emine Erdoğan, during the COVID-19 epidemic. In this context, we have provided 3 billion lira of financial support to 220 thousand women entrepreneurs through Halkbank in the last 60 years. We have implemented many reforms and unimaginable breakthroughs together with you in the last 21 years. "I would like to express that we expect strong support from women in all our cities, especially Istanbul, on March 31," she said.
