Evrim Kepenek

 

ISTANBUL - 2,500 women staying in the women’s shelters will not be able to vote for the elections to be held in Turkey on June 24. Lawyer Esin Yeşilırmak said the women’s right to vote was usurped under the name of “confidentiality” and she stated that the Ministry of Family and Social Policies didn’t solve this problem despite all suggestions.

 

The elections to be held in Turkey are near; however, many people are deprived of their right to vote and stand for election. The best known people who cannot use their right to vote are the soldiers. But the women, who have to stay in women’s shelters in order to run away from violence against them, cannot vote. Feminist lawyer Esin Yeşilırmak thought the vote problem of women living in shelters was not solved deliberatively.

 

Stating that the places of the women’s shelters are not told to anybody except the authorities the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and that the ballot boxes haven’t been set up in the shelters, Esin said, “The fundamental human right in the Constitution is the right to vote and stand for election. But the right to vote of 2,500 women staying in women’s shelters has been seized. We don’t talk about just five or ten people, we talk about 2,500 women. The ruling party must find a solution in order to stop this usurpation. They can set up ballot boxes in women’s shelters without telling their address. The Ministry of Family and Social Policies and the Supreme Electoral Council can solve this problem easily.”