VZCZCXYZ0023
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAK #0760/01 1481531
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281531Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9763
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 5798

UNCLAS ANKARA 000760 
 
SIPDIS 
FOR S/GWI - AMBASSADOR MELANNE VERVEER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT:  TURKEY:  SCENESETTER FOR AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL 
WOMEN'S ISSUES VERVEER 
 
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Welcome 
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¶1.  Coming in the wake of successful visits by President Obama and 
Secretary Clinton, your visit will be seen as a further sign that 
the Obama administration is committed to maintaining a dialogue with 
Turkey on both a government-to-government and people-to-people 
level.  Secretary Clinton launched the administration's 
people-to-people dialogue with a March 7 nationally televised 
appearance on Turkey's version of "The View" hosted by four women 
(http://turkey.usembassy.gov/statement_030709 sc.html ).   President 
Obama then participated in a nationally televised town hall meeting 
with young people in Istanbul on April 7 
(http://turkey.usembassy.gov/statements_04070 9.html ).  As you 
engage with Turkish Government and NGO leaders, we want to provide 
you with some essential background on the status of women in Turkey 
and where Turkey stands on key issues. 
 
 
------------------------- 
Status of Women in Turkey 
------------------------- 
 
¶2.  In laying the foundations of the Turkish republic in the 1920s 
and 1930s, Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk rapidly improved 
the status of women.  Women were afforded the right to vote and hold 
office.  They achieved equal rights with men in cases of divorce, 
custody and inheritance.  Co-education was established from primary 
school through university.  Civil marriage was introduced and most 
women stopped wearing the veil.  Turkey became the first country 
with a female Supreme Court judge. 
 
¶3.  Ataturk's reforms changed women's lives, though reality didn't 
always measure up to Ataturk's vision and significant differences 
prevailed in the status of women, particularly between urban and 
rural areas.  Women's access to education and participation in the 
workforce increased steadily in urban areas.  In the countryside, 
the change in women's status was far more modest.  Over most of the 
20th century the disparity between official secular/modernizing 
ideology ("Kemalism") on the one hand and reality among the large 
segment of the population that continued to adhere to tradition on 
the other remained outside the political arena, due to impediments 
against advancing political agendas that clashed with Kemalist 
ideology. 
 
¶4. Over the past 10 years, Turkey implemented major reforms in the 
sphere of women's rights and the prevention of violence against 
women.  The first breakthrough was the adoption of the 1998 law on 
the protection of the family, aimed at preventing domestic violence. 
 This was followed by reform of the civil code in 2001, and most 
recently reform of the Turkish Penal Code in 2004. Through these 
reforms, women have attained the legal basis to exercise their 
rights.  At the same time, tensions between proponents of secularism 
and tradition values have found political expression, most 
prominently in the governing Justice and Development Party's move to 
lift the ban on wearing headscarves in public buildings (including 
universities) in 2007 and the Constitutional Court reversal of that 
decision in 2008. 
 
 
------------------------------ 
Dealing with Domestic Violence 
------------------------------ 
 
 
¶5.  Despite the progress in women's rights in modern Turkey, many 
serious problem areas remain.  Domestic violence remains accepted in 
many parts of Turkish society, according to academic studies and 
contacts in the women's rights movement.  A survey conducted by 
Sabanci and Bogazici universities in Istanbul revealed that 
one-third of Turkish women have experienced some form of domestic 
violence.  Women are susceptible to abuse in their own homes at the 
hands of male relatives, and this is a problem that affects women in 
both urban and rural areas.  Among the reasons men give for abusing 
women are inability to bear a male child, wanting to work, leaving 
the home without permission and unsatisfactory cooking skills. 
 
¶6.  The barbaric practice of "honor killings" -- murders ostensibly 
committed to uphold a family's honor -- persists, particularly among 
people of rural background and low levels of educational attainment. 
 According to a July 2008 Prime Ministry human rights report, 
approximately 1000 honor killings have been committed in Turkey over 
the last five years.  The women's rights NGO KA-MER, which operates 
in Turkey's southeast, where most honor killings occur, reports that 
many men continue to regard acts of adultery or "promiscuous" 
behavior by young women as violations of family honor serious enough 
to justify attacks on women or even murder.  In many cases, women 
facing the prospect of such murders commit suicide or the murders 
themselves are passed off as suicides. 
 
¶7.  Under the pressure of meeting EU reform requirements and pressed 
by a handful of committed women's rights NGOs, the GOT has enacted 
more than 30 amendments to the Turkish Penal Code to address the 
previously taboo topic of domestic violence by criminalizing marital 
rape and stiffening punishments for honor killings.  Contacts, 
however, report that the government is still struggling to implement 
the new legislation.  Turkish citizens are increasingly taking 
responsibility for protecting at-risk women as is evidenced by the 
growth of women's organizations over the last ten years.  These 
organizations provide a range of services, including information on 
legal rights and counseling for those experiencing domestic 
violence.  These organizations are also working with the police and 
local government officials to raise awareness of domestic violence 
and offer their services when incidents occur.  The Embassy is proud 
to have provided assistance to such NGOs in the past and we plan to 
expand such support in the coming months. 
 
---------------------- 
Trafficking in Persons 
---------------------- 
¶8.  The government amended its law in 2006 to increase penalties for 
trafficking offenses and to increase victims' rights and access to 
assistance.  Turkey also increased its total number of trafficking 
investigations, prosecutions, and convictions over the last year. 
We continue to engage with the Government of Turkey as it focuses on 
additional steps needed for Turkey to get Tier 1 status, such as 
improving victim identification procedures, and collecting 
trafficking data. 
-------------------------------------------- 
Literacy, Access to Education and Employment 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶9.  According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the literacy 
rate for women is 80.4 percent compared to 96 percent for men. 66 
percent of women aged 25-64 have only a primary education or lower, 
according to the Ministry of Education.  190,000 school-aged 
children were un-enrolled in the 2007/08 academic year, 157,000 of 
whom were female.  Girls account for 46 percent of secondary school 
students and 44 percent of university students for the 2008/09 
academic year.  According to the EU's 2008 accession report on 
Turkey, women represented 24.7 percent of the workforce in 2007. 
The overall employment rate for women was even lower at 22.2 
percent.  The NGO Kagider estimates that women's wages are on 
average 30-35% lower than men's and women occupy only 6 percent of 
senior management positions.  9 percent of members of parliament are 
women.  Women fare somewhat better in academia.  27.5 percent of 
professors are women, though only 15 percent of deans and 9 percent 
of university rectors are. 
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Women's Health 
-------------- 
¶10.  Life expectancy for Turkish women is 71 years according to the 
Turkish Statistical Institute.  49 percent of women use tobacco 
products.  Use of contraceptive methods has been legal since 1965, 
and 64 percent of women report using some form of contraception.  27 
percent of married women have had at least one induced abortion. 
The average birth rate for Turkish women is 2.6.  The average age at 
which a woman marries is 19.5.  There is no reproductive or sexual 
education at any level in the Turkish educational system. 
 
SILLIMAN