Women activists call on all women to fight for the run-off elections (May 28) in order to strengthen their struggle against HUDA-PAR and New Welfare Party, known for their anti-women and LGBTI+ stances, which secured 9 seats at the Parliament.
The highly anticipated presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey took place on Sunday.
No candidate in the presidential first round having won 50%; as such the race will go to a run-off in two weeks time between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (49.52%), the incumbent, and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (44.88%), backed by several opposition parties.
According to the results, there is a difference of 2 million 520 thousand 164 votes between Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu. A nationalist third candidate, Sinan Oğan, emerged as a potential kingmaker after picking up 5.17% of the vote.
Although Kılıçdaroğlu’s falling behind Erdoğan and comments regarding an unexpected ‘nationalist tidal wave’ in Turkey have caused despair among those who voted for the opposition, hopeful messages for the runoff elections from politicians and civil society have begun to resonate with opposition voters.
In particular, women’s civil society organisations are calling on women to fight for the 2nd round of the elections in order to strengthen the line of struggle against HUDA-PAR and New Walfare Party, known for their anti-gender equality and anti-LGBTI+ stances, which entered the Parliament with 9 deputies.
“We must make the most of these 15 days”
Stating that the anti-women wave was rising in the parliament, Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK) lawyer Hülya Gülbahar emphasises that the runoff elections is of vital importance for women:
“These parties (New Welfare Party and HUDA-PAR) promoted hatred towards the Istanbul Convention during their election campaign. They are against women’s right to education, inheritance, divorce, alimony and all other fundamental rights. They ask for amnesty for child abusers and set the age for sexual intercourse with children. Therefore, a very difficult parliament awaits women and girls, but we were prepared for these results. Regardless of the election results, the fact that parties with this mentality were making politics at the parliamentary level would have been a threat to women in itself, and as a matter of fact, this prediction came true. We will continue our struggle. For this reason, runoff elections is of vital importance for women. We must make the most of these 15 days well.”
Some of the messages from women activists and civil society organisations are as follows:
EŞİK: “We will NOT GIVE UP the struggle for our rights, our lives, and our future for an equal, free, and non-violent life, just like yesterday, just like today, and also tomorrow.”
Fidan Ataselim: “Everything is not over yet, the struggle continues. Moreover, if their misogynistic representatives have entered the parliament, we also have our organized, egalitarian, feminist struggle. We are not afraid, and we are not going anywhere… No one can take away our today, our tomorrow, our hope from us.”
We Will Stop Femicides Platform: “Those who justify the killing of women because they want to divorce, separate, work, or pursue education have become the members of Parliament. We know that they will encroach upon Law 6284 and our freedoms. We can stop the enemies of women’s rights and become much stronger with you. Let’s join the struggle.”
Women’s Coalition: “On May 28th, WOMEN will determine the election! We stand against those who are enemies of women, those who commit hate crimes, those who attempt to abolish women’s rights, those who seek to destroy Law 6284, which protects women and girls from violence, those who condemn women to unemployment and poverty, those who remain silent on child sexual abuse, those who dictate that women should not laugh out loud or pregnant women should not be seen in public, those who dismiss the Istanbul Convention as a mere piece of paper and think that we should bow to the inevitable. WE STAND AGAINST THEM, WE ARE HERE, AND WE WILL WIN! We call on all women to cast their votes.”