Women's rights and Erdoğan

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been the target of baseless criticism in the international arena. Recently, his remarks on women's rights and motherhood were used to "confirm his anti-democratic rights policies" by those who do not miss any chance to manipulate his image. His emphasis on the role of motherhood for a woman was harshly criticized, ignoring his intention to give a message on the importance of the different roles women have. As a woman and mother who lived for years in a European country and who experienced a long-lasting judicial procedure concerning the rights of parental authority, I strongly object to those who argue for European standards of human rights and criticize Erdoğan's position on human rights. Of course a woman has different roles. And the role of motherhood is perhaps the most important after bearing a child. The protection European states provide for mothers is far beyond the reality.

Various conditions in European juridical systems protect the rights of migrant women, and we can talk about real discrimination implemented by even the most developed European states. Equality in Western societies is only valid for whites in the Western world. Experience talks here, and I can discuss this argument with anyone who objects. If a European judge studies a procedure between a migrant woman and an identity in accordance with its principles, there is no chance for the migrant woman. Numerous cases in European courts confirm this. As I've lost hope for justice systems in Europe, I cannot accept European standards for women's rights, as European justice systems have left many foreign women incomplete by taking away their rights of motherhood. Perhaps if a homosexual seeks parental rights in a European court, they would be luckier than a migrant woman seeking her natural right of motherhood. Of course, this is a very brutal experience, the marks of which never disappear throughout a lifetime. Years of my daughter's childhood were stolen from my life with the decision of a European court since I was not a "useful profile" of a foreigner in a European country. Western justice only works for foreigners that can be used as tools by these states. European courts ask foreigners, "What will I get in return?"

Before I started my current position on the president's team, when I was working as a journalist, Erdoğan provided the biggest support for me for not losing hope as a mother and quarreling for my right to motherhood in a European country. He did this not only in the role of a statesman, but also, and perhaps more, in the role of a father. I witnessed first-hand Erdoğan's position on women's rights and motherhood. But the standards of women's rights and parental authority rights in Europe? No thanks. And as a small note, not to attribute more importance, in a recent article published in a European newspaper, ElifŞafak claimed that a division existed between Turkish women and harshly criticized the situation of women's rights in Turkey. I really wonder when Şafak last touched ordinary people on the streets of Turkish cities and listened to their daily concerns.