Two-day conference on empowerment of women kicks off in Istanbul

A three-day international conference on the empowerment of women began in İstanbul on Sunday. Titled "The Political and Socio-economic Empowerment of Women based on Women's Stories," the conference is co-organized by the North-South Center of the Council of Europe (CoE) and Turkey's Parliament. The conference aims to be a venue for experience sharing between women from different backgrounds. The conference brings together women from various professions and segments of society, and it aspires to address the many challenges and obstacles women face and propose practical solutions at various levels. Meral Aksener, the deputy speaker of the Turkish Parliament, emphasized the importance of the collaboration of women in the region through sharing their stories with each other in her opening remarks at the conference. Referring to the theme of the conference, which was set as the stories of "strong women," Aksener said, "It is time for women to appear in the media with their success stories, rather than being merely portrayed as victims." Aksener pointed out that Turkey was the first country to ratify the CoE agreement on preventing and combating violence against women. Emphasizing the importance of the establishment of the equal opportunity commission in Parliament, Akşener said despite these significant improvements "women in Turkey are not represented enough in Parliament and the government." Nursuna Memecan, head of the Turkish Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Deborah Bergamini, the chair of the executive committee of the North-South Center, were among the participants at the conference.