Women Speak about the Constitution on March 8th Around 500 women attended the Citizens’ Assembly held on International Women’s Day.

ANKARA – A special meeting of the Constitution Platform Citizens’ Assembly series was held on International Women’s Day, March 8, with the participation of women only. The sixth meeting of the series, which was held on a weekday with a special theme, was attended by women from Ankara, who were invited randomly via SMS, and female representatives from local and national civil society organizations throughout Turkey.

The thirteen professional and civil society organizations that make up the Constitution Platform initiative group held the sixth Citizens' Assembly in Ankara under the secretariat of TEPAV, on Thursday, March 8, at the facilities of the TOBB University of Economics and Technology.

Delivering the opening remarks, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that many women from different sections of society had come together to discuss the new constitution, and said, “Women will bring productiveness to the constitution-making process.”

He spoke: “These garments are too small for us. They prevent us from moving freely and sprinting. We need to change out of these old garments. But this time the tailor must the people. The people must sew the new garments we will wear. The constitution must be built upon the agreement of the people, not behind closed doors by experts. Until today, citizens have only confirmed the choices made by experts. We want to dictate the new constitution to the experts this time.”

“March 8^th will find its true meaning here”

Asserting that if Turkey was to be a country where men and women walked side by side, the constitution had to be made together. He went on:

“On the one hand, you claim that the republic was established by men and women, together; our women carried artillery shells and weapons on their backs, but you go and push women aside in all fields of life and disregard them. This will not stand! There are among us today, businesswomen, artisans and public servants, workers, pensioners, teachers, actors, doctors, lawyers and housewives! Be sure of this: March 8th Women's Day will find its true meaning here. Today, Turkey's women will speak.”

Emphasizing that, given the chance, women entrepreneurs were able to write stories of success, he added, “Our women entrepreneurs have organized themselves in every province without any quota or discrimination. They have become important actors in chambers and exchanges. Now, the women of Turkey will be the architects of its constitution.” Also, he stressed that the new constitution should be one that focused on the individual, shunned all discrimination, and strived to realize the ideal of equality in all aspects of social life.

During the meeting, representatives of the organizations forming the Constitution Platform initiative group also delivered speeches. The female speakers in particular were applauded the most.

Memur-Sen Chairman Ahmet Gündoğdu said that the human-centered approach in the current constitution must be extended to the state structure and the education system. He maintained that they, as Memur-Sen, also had carried out a survey study that involved face-to-face interviews with 50,000 people.

HAK-İŞ Vice Chairman Mustafa Toruntay maintained that they had voiced several times the need for a new constitution and that the new constitution needed to put special emphasis on women’s rights.

Pointing at the fact that all of the representatives who delivered speeches before her had been male, Notaries Union Vice President Handan Baykan said that women would have a greater weight in the social sphere. She added that genuine equality would start when even positive discrimination was not needed.

TESK Chairman Bendevi Palandöken stressed that women were the guarantee of the future of a country and added that their Confederation had 170,000 female members.

Drawing attention to violence against women, TZOB Chairman Şemsi Bayraktar stated that women had to have a voice and representation in the constitution-making process and that the new constitution had to satisfy the fundamental expectations of women. He stressed that 96.1 percent of women working in the agricultural sector were informally employed and said that this it was unacceptable.

Women of the parliament delivered speeches

During the opening session, four women MPs delivered speeches to represent each political party in the Parliament. Taking the floor, BDP MP Ayla Akat Ata referred to the history of the March 8 International Women’s Day and commemorated the women killed in 1857. She stressed that women were unable to use even fundamental human rights, which they could enjoy only via their families.

Speaking after Ata, MHP MP and Deputy Parliament Speaker Meral Akşener said, “I hope the new constitution will be one that overthrows all disputes witnessed since the establishment of the Republic. We want the new constitution to take into account the republic as well as democracy, women as well as men. We hope it will be an integrative constitution.”

CHP MP Gülsün Bilgehan started her speech commemorating Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with reference to the rights entitled to women. She added, “Today, five women are killed each day in Turkey. This is the most important problem one can think of.” In this context, she called women to cooperate for human rights.

AK Party MP Ayşe Türkmenoğlu also drew attention to the importance of the law the Parliament negotiated, which aimed at enabling women who are subjected to violence to feel secure in social life.

“Women’s rights are an indicator of democracy”

Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said that one of the most significant indicators of the quality of democracy in a country was the clauses regarding women's rights in the legislation and the constitution. Noting that the previous speakers had been mainly male, he added, “On this occasion, we see this problem once again. Men were many in number and they spoke more.”

Saying that March 8 must be the day on which the realities of women’s lives and women’s rights and problems had to be discussed and stressed, he went on:

“This is not a one-day issue. This is not an issue to talk about just one day of the year and then to forget. The way to make progress in this field is to talk about these matters directly and indirectly 365 days a year and to realize the necessary steps accordingly.

Gender-related issues also discussed

Following the opening session, an interactive session that was attended by citizens was held. During the session, participants expressed their opinions and voted on the options about the new constitution under ten headings: “freedom of expression and political association, coexistence, economic and social rights, the principle of social state and positive discrimination, quality of public services, religion-state relationship, government system, independence of the judiciary, elections and political parties, local administrations, and nature and cultural assets.” During the session, gender-related issues also were discussed.

The Constitution Platform initiative group involves TOBB, TZOB, TESK, TÜRK-İŞ, TİSK, HAK-İŞ, MEMUR-SEN, KAMU-SEN, TÜRMOB, the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, and the Union of Turkish Public Notaries. Other organizations also contribute to the process.