PANEL DISCUSSION TITLED "TURKISH WOMEN ON THE PATH TO EU" IN BRUSSELS

The panel discussion titled "Turkish Woman on the path to EU" was held at the European Parliament with the participation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife Mrs. Emine Erdogan and Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis.

In the panel, which was jointly organized by European Parliament's Rapporteur on Women's Rights in Turkey Emine Bozkurt and Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), Egemen Bagis, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife Emine Erdogan and EU Commissioner in charge of Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule delivered the inauguration speech. Bagis said "As the Chief Negotiator of Turkey, I always come across the question of "What is the biggest problem on the way to EU?". My answer is always the same. Our biggest problem is prejudices. No matter how many chapters we open, we will not be able to make significant progress unless we win hearts and minds."

Bagis said "People may get anxious of what they don't know. They may have doubts or they may even get scared. However, they would eventually come to understand that differences make into richness as they get to know each other. For this reason, Turkish women from many different walks of life are in the capital of the EU today, in order to show the real woman image in Turkey. What they have in common is their faith in the European Union process."

Stating that Turkey couldn't be a member to the EU unless it took the support of women comprising half of the population, Bagis said "Today modern women are the indicators of the determined path of Turkey in the EU process. We consider our women as the key of modernization and our EU membership process. I wholeheartedly believe that in this process, we will attain the full EU membership of Turkey with the support, contributions, endeavor and devotion of our women."

In her speech, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife Emine Erdogan emphasized that being the East's most western part and the West's most eastern part, Turkey always turned its face towards Europe.

Emine Erdogan said the following:

"Notably in the recent period, we are pleased to see that Turkey has become a country which not only complies with the agenda, but also determines it. In our culture and civilization, which has a great historical background, family and motherhood are sacred. However, I have to say that, our mothers and our women never got stuck in the family; on the contrary they have always been involved in the economic, social and political life in the course of history. When we look at the history of Turkey, we see that beyond just being a mother and a wife, women have participated in economic activities, state administration and social activities and even in heroically and devotedly in defending our homeland."

Stephan Fule, EU Commissioner in charge of Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, said that since the establishment of the Republic, Turkey, especially with the determination of Ataturk, took very important steps which would raise women's rights and that those reforms needed to be progressed with the help of EU accession process.

Kaynak: AA