Women in Turkish politics


have an active participation in national politics, and the number of women in the Turkish parliament has been increasing steadily in recent elections.

Background

The Republic of Turkey was founded on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire on 29 October 1923. Although the political power of some Valide Sultans over the Ottoman Sultans was considerable, especially during the era known as the Sultanate of Women, women had no chance to serve in any official political post in the Ottoman era.
One notable female political activist in the first days of the Republican era was Nezihe Muhittin, who founded the first women's party in Turkey in June 1923; however, it was never legalized because the Republic was not officially declared yet. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic initiated a series of reforms to modernize the country, including civil and political equality for women for the first time. On 17 February 1926, Turkey adopted a new civil code by which the rights of Turkish women and men were declared equal except in suffrage. After a short but intense struggle, Turkish women achieved voting rights in local elections by Act no. 1580 on 3 April 1930. Four years later, through legislation enacted on 5 December 1934, they gained full universal suffrage, earlier than most other countries.

President

Up to the present, there have been no female Presidents in Turkey.

Speakers of Parliament

Up to the present, there have been no female Speakers of Grand National Assembly in Turkey.

Vice President

Up to the present, there have been no female Vice Presidents in Turkey.
Vice President office established in Turkey in 2018.

Prime Minister (1923-2018)

, a career professor of economics since 1983, entered politics in November 1990, joining the conservative True Path Party. On June 13, 1993, she was elected the party's leader, and on 25 June the same year, Çiller was appointed the Prime Minister of a coalition government, becoming Turkey's first and only female prime minister to date. She served at this post until 6 March 1996.
Prime Minister office abolished in Turkey in 2018.

Government ministers

The first female Turkish government minister was Türkân Akyol, in 1971. She was the Minister of Health in Nihat Erim's technocratic government. In 1983, she was one of the founders of SODEP, short for Social Democracy Party, a new party which went on to become one of the major political parties of Turkey in 1980s.
Female government ministers up to the present are as follows:
NameMinistryParty
Türkân Akyol
Minister of Health and Social Security
Minister of State 1992–1993
SHP
Nermin Neftçi
Minister of Culture CGP
İmren Aykut
Minister of Labour and Social Security
Minister of State,
Minister of Environment 		ANAP
Güler İleri
Minister of State SHP
Aysel Baykal
Minister of State CHP
Önay Alpago
Minister of State SHP
Işılay Saygın
Minister of State
Minister of Environment,
Minister of Tourism 		DYP
Ayfer Yılmaz
Minister of State DYP
Tansu Çiller
Minister of Foreign Affairs DYP
Meral Akşener
Minister of Interior DYP
Tayyibe Gülek
Minister of State DSP
Melda Bayer
Minister of State DSP
Aysel Çelikel
Minister of Justice
Güldal Akşit
Minister of Tourism
Minister of State 		AK Party
Nimet Baş
Minister of State
Minister of National Education 		AK Party
Selma Aliye Kavaf
Minister of State AK Party
Fatma Şahin
Minister of Family and Social Policies AK Party
Ayşenur İslam
Minister of Family and Social Policies AK Party
Ayşen Gürcan
Minister of Family and Social Policies
Beril Dedeoğlu
Minister of European Union
Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya
Minister of Family and Social Policy AK Party
Jülide Sarıeroğlu
Minister of Labour and Social Security AK Party
Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk
Minister of Family, Labour and Social Services
Ruhsar Pekcan
Minister of Trade


Deputy Speakers of the Parliament

Although no woman council president has served in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey until today, several politicians have served as the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament at different times. In 1972, the first female deputy president of the Republic of Turkey CGP parliamentary deputy has been Nermin Neftçi. Some of the other female deputy speakers were Meral Akşener, Güldal Mumcu and finally Ayşe Nur Bahçekapılı for a long time.

Party leaders

First female Turkish party leader was Behice Boran. A member of the Workers Party of Turkey, she was elected as the chairman of the party in 1970 and continued in this post until all the political parties were closed following the September 11, 1980 military coup. Other female party leaders were:
Two parties were founded by women: National Women's Party of Turkey in 1972 and Women's Party in 2014

Parliamentary group vice chairwoman

According to the Turkish constitution, each party with over twenty seats forms a parliamentary group and each group is represented by 1–3 group vice chairpersons who are authorized to represent, in general terms, the relevant party in the parliament both in relation to the parliament administration and in relations with other party groups, as well as presiding the parliamentary group in the absence of the party president. The first female group vice chairperson in Turkish parliament was Oya Araslı of the Republican People's Party between 1996 and 1999. Later, there were two parliamentary group chairwomen in parliament: Emine Ülker Tarhan of the Republican People's Party and Pervin Buldan of the Peace and Democracy Party.

Members of Parliament

The first female MPs of the Turkish Parliament, elected with the 8 February 1935 general elections.

1935–1999 elections

Following the promising 1935 start, however, the number of women in the parliament began to decrease.Especially in the 1950 and 1961 elections, only 3 women were able to enter the parliament, and since history has been given women the right to vote and be elected, it has been the least women entered into parliament.
Election yearNo of deputyNo of woman MPWoman MP rate
193539518%4,6
193942915%3,7
194343516%3,7
19464659%1,9
19504873%0,6
19545414%0,7
19576108%1,3
19614503%0,7
19654508%1,8
19694505%1,1
19734506%1,3
19774504%0,9
198339912%3,0
19874506%1,3
19914508%1,8
199555013%2,4
199955022%4,2

2002–present elections

Since 1995, the number of women in the parliament has been continually on the rise. The 1935 percentage of women, the first year that women were able to be elected to parliament, was surpassed no earlier than in 1999. However, the female representation rate did not fall below 10 percent after the 2007 elections.
Election yearNo of deputyNo of woman MPWoman MP rate
200255024%4,4
200755050%9,1
201155079%14,3
2015
June		55097%17,6
2015
November		55081%14,7
2018600103%17,1

Members of the Senate (1961-1980)

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey had a Senate between 1961 and 1980. The following women were elected as the senators:
Turkey's first female governor Lale Aytaman. Aytaman, who served as the governor of Muğla between 1991-1995, was appointed to this position by President Turgut Özal. Meanwhile, Turkey's first female district governor is Özlem Bozkurt Gevrek. She served in the Orta district of Çankırı in 1995. After these years, the number of female governors and district governors increased rapidly.

Local governments

The first female muhtar in Turkey was Gülkız Ürbül, who became the muhtar of Demircidere village in the Çine district of Aydın Province in 1933. In the elections, she ran against seven male candidates. The first female city mayor was Müfide İlhan, who was elected as the mayor of Mersin in 1950.