I congratulate with my warmest wishes all female colleagues as well as the spouses of male colleagues in our Ministry on the occasion of the 8th of March, the International Women’s Day.
Women’s rights which have been at the top of the agenda ever increasingly both in our country and in the international community, have become one of the most important criterion to be a respectable member of the international community and in determining development standards of nations.
Turkey, which is party to international conventions in the field of women's rights and which supports the implementation of these conventions rigorously, has recently led the efforts in preparing the “Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence” which, in short is referred to, as the İstanbul Convention and has become the first country to sign and to ratify the Convention.
It is essential that men and women have equal opportunities in all fields such as politics, business, education, health care as well as participation in political and social life. The legal regulations and the steps taken in this regard in recent years in Turkey are noteworthy.
With this understanding, the Ministry has contributed to the efforts aimed at protecting and promoting women’s rights and strengthening the status of women in the society, by closely cooperating with the relevant institutions in Turkey and in international arena with particularly the United Nations, and its specialized agencies and mechanisms.
Having had 37 women Ambassadors so far, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, where a great number of woman diplomats serve at, attaches a special importance to the International Women’s Day. Women officials constitute 38 percent of our Ministry officers. Since Adile Ayda, the first woman diplomat who commenced work in 1932, all our woman officers have duly performed their duties both at home and abroad and have been representing our country with success.
With heartfelt feelings, I sincerely congratulate the International Women's Day of our female colleagues of the Ministry and the spouses of male officers who have an important role in the success of their spouses to fulfill an important role throughout their careers.