A research on women's identity in Azerbaijan and Turkey 2015 election campaigns; AK Party and YAP Party samples

It is a fact which is accepted by everyone that there are many advantages of our life in technological era. Especially the emergence of internet and social media in all areas of our lives, proves that situation. Keeping up with this changing level and succeeding in a competitive environment is an important factor for institutions and organizations. One of the most important units of the democracy which is known as the best form of government and that advocates equal rights for all sexes of the society without any discrimination, is political parties. Political parties are known to be an important factor in the development of an country or vice versa; a political party is the image of a country and the situation of the country in which it operates is under its responsibility. Naturally, the fulfillment of democratic conditions in a country is up to the political party in power. In this study, the election campaigns of AKP and YAP political parties for women and women parliamentary candidates during the elections which were held in Azerbaijan and Turkey on 1 November 2015, as well as what kind of actions are doing for women's political participation by the women's branches of each party's, have been tried to investigate. Therefore interviews were conducted with the AKP Women's Branches and YAP Women's Branch officials. As a result of the interviews, it was seen that the aim of the women's branches was to obtain the support of the women and to have vote for the party, during the elections, and to create a positive image of the parties in the society. Furthermore, news articles related to women during the general elections of November 1, 2015, were analyzed. Therewithal, an online survey was conducted with a total of 400 people from both countries to determine the obstacles to women's political participation. As a result of the survey, it was defined that the obstacles of women's political participation, are the lack of economic freedom of women, low educational status, women's family responsibilities, and the stereotype that politics is not a women's business by society.