Jale Özer, the chair of Atatürk Society UK, issued a press release on the occasion of 8 March International Working Women’s Day.
Özer’ said: “On the International Working Women’s Day, we, who were raised by the women of the Republic of Turkey who are free of thought, conscience and wisdom, once again express our gratitude and respect to the Great Leader Atatürk. Unfortunately, in our country, where Atatürk entrusted very important reforms to women, we entered the year 2023 in an environment where violence against women is increasing. Women who died from honor killings, child brides; The number of women and children who are harassed at home, at work or at school has increased tremendously in recent years. The first way to create an unconscious society is to block the way of women’s education; It is the creation of conditions in which education cannot be given.
“With the education system that has been changed 16 times in the last 20 years, we have entered a period in which sects and foundations have a say in the background, and many public schools have been forcibly converted into imam-hatip schools; Our girls are directed into an education system that supports homeschooling, Quran courses and early marriage.
“The struggles of many heroic Anatolian women who sacrificed their lives and children for the sake of the country while fighting at the front in the War of Independence, and the women of the Republic such as Bahriye Üçok and Türkan Saylan, should always be remembered and it should never be forgotten that they still exist today.
“With this awareness, as ADDP, we celebrate the International Working Women’s Day of our Republican women with all our associations. It is worthy of us, who grew up benefiting from the blessings of the Republic, not to follow this course, but to fight with men and women in order to protect the rights that were once set an example in the world and to take them further.”