The international symposium titled, "Women in Turkey and the European Union (EU): Toward a Joint Understanding" organized by the Association for Supporting and Educating Women Candidates (Ka-Der), brought together representatives of non-governmental organizations, bureaucrats, politicians, researchers, journalists and writers from Turkey, EU countries and EU candidates last week.

The symposium, organized with the initiative and sponsorship of the Eczacibasi Group, was aimed at discussing "women's problems," which will be an important issue in Turkey's negotiations period with the EU, on a universal platform.

A paper titled, " Women's Status in Turkey and the EU: Gains, Problems, Hopes" prepared with editing by Prof. Dr. Fatmagul Berktay, the Head of the Politics Department of the School of Political Science at the Istanbul University, formed the basis of the symposium.

Women came together from all over Europe

Ayse Bilge Dicleli, the head of Ka-Der, Bulent Eczacibasi, the head of the Eczacibasi board of directors, and Guldal Aksit, the state minister responsible for women, delivered the opening speeches.

After Sirin Tekeli, the first head of Ka-Der, spoke about "Women's Movement in Turkey," Prof. Berktay told participants about her research on "Women's Status in Turkey and the EU: Gains, Problems, Hopes."

A panel on "Women in Turkey and the EU" was held during the main session of the symposium. Lydia la Riviere-Zijdel, the head of Women's Lobby in Europe, and Claes Borgstrom, the ombudsman of Sweden Equal Opportunities attended the panel.

During the panel, moderated by Prof. Dr. Berktay, participants discussed women's status in Turkey, EU countries, and EU candidate countries.

Prof. Dr. Feride Acar, committee head of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and a teacher at the Public Administration Department of the Economic and Administrative Sciences School of the Middle Eastern Technical University (ODTU), Prof. Dr. Yakin Erturk, special member on UN Human Rights Commission Violence Against Women, and a teacher at the Sociology Department of ODTU, and Dr. Selma Acuner, a teacher at the Women's Studies Department of the Ankara University, attended the panel.

Discussions

During the free discussion session in the afternoon, participants from Turkey, EU countries and EU candidate countries, shared their opinions, experiences and proposals.

The discussions were held under three sessions titled, "Monitoring and Supervising Equality Between Men and Women," "New Participation Mechanisms in Democracies," and "Maintaining Inter-Cultural Solidarity."

Among participants in these sessions were: Baroness Emma Nicholson Winterbourn, a member of the European Parliament, Angela Marques De-Athayde, the main coordinator of European Commission responsible for Enlargement the Enlargement, Gonul Saray, head of the Women-Men Equality Solidarity Commission of the Turkish Parliamentarians' Union, Gudrun Nordborg, from the Sweden Institute for Supporting Victims of Violence, Nebahat Akkoc, head of KAMER in the province of Diyarbakir, Prof. Dr. Yildiz Ecevit from the Flying Broom, Ulla Antilla, member of the Green Parliamentary Group in Finland and Ferda Gulluoglu, Sanliurfa Bar Head. (BB/EU/EA/YE)