Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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Political Participation of Women
22.05 The USSD 2005 report recorded that, “There were 24 women in the 550-seat parliament. There was 1 female minister in the 23-member cabinet. There were no female governors but more than 20 female subgovernors.” [5b] (Section 3)
22.06 The EC 2006 report recorded that “The level of participation of women in the parliament and in local representative bodies remains very low and prevailing discrimination exists in the labour market. Participation by women in the workforce is among the lowest in OECD countries.” [71a] (p19)
22.07 A Turkish Daily News article dated on 26 January 2007 ‘Turkish woman's election to gender equality chair meaningful' stated that:
“It is significant when a Turkish woman (Ankara deputy Gülsün Bilgehan) becomes head of a Council of Europe committee in charge of gender equality and women rights. She was unanimously elected on Monday head of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) committee on equal opportunities for women and men.” [23n]
22.08 The Turkish Daily news also reported on 26 January 2007 that Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ, yesterday elected chairman of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD), is the acting CEO of Doğan TV and a Doğan Holding board member. [23i]
Social and economic rights
22.09 As noted in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Human Rights Annual Report 2006, released in October 2006:
“The joint UNICEF and Ministry of Education campaign to increase girls’ attendance at school continued to yield positive results throughout 2005–06. The campaign, which now covers the whole of Turkey, continues to address shortages in classroom space, school materials and teacher training, and to

encourage members of the community to identify girls who are not going to school and to discuss the issue with their parents. As a result of the campaign, enrolment and attendance have dramatically increased among primary age girls.” [4n] (p138)
Marriage
22.10 The European Commission 2006 report further noted that “The Law on the Protection of the Family is only partially applied. Despite the provisions in the new Penal Code that lists moral killings as an aggravated circumstance for murder crimes, the sentences issued by courts reflect a mixed picture. While in some cases courts imposed maximum sentences (life imprisonment), in others they opted for lighter sentences, especially if a minor had committed the murder.” [71a] (p18)
23.05 The USSD 2005 report noted that:
“Child marriage occurred. The legal age of marriage in the country is 18 for both boys and girls. A judge can authorise a marriage at age 17 under ‘extraordinary circumstances’; the law requires judges to consult with parents or guardians before making such a decision. However, children as young as 12 were at times married in unofficial religious ceremonies. Families sometimes engaged in ‘cradle arrangements,’ agreeing that their newborn children would marry at a later date, well before reaching the legal age. Women’s rights activists say underage marriage has become less common in the country in recent years, but is still practiced in rural, poverty-stricken regions. Activists maintained that girls who married below the legal age often had children shortly thereafter and suffered physical and psychological trauma as a result. Arranged marriages have been cited as a cause of suicides among girls, particularly in the southeast.” [5b] (Section 5)