Turkey’s CHP criticizes lack of women members on state of emergency panel

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu has criticized the lack of women members in a commission that was formed to receive complaints about rights violations during the state of emergency.

Turkey declared a state of emergency after the July 15, 2016, failed coup, which was widely believed to have been masterminded by U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, leading to the suspension or dismissal of tens of thousands of people from their posts due to their suspected links to Gülenists or other groups through emergency decrees.

Tanrıkulu said that even though there are “thousands of women victims,” there are no women on the state of emergency commission.

“The president and the members of the state of emergency were finally appointed after five months. The first issue that grabbed my attention was that there are thousands of women victims, but no women members were appointed,” Tanrıkulu wrote on his Twitter account on May 16, referring to the five months between the announcement of the formation of the commission and its actual formation.