1935 elections (The Elections When Women Were Given the Right to Vote and to be Elected) and İzmir press

Before the Turkish Republic was established, demands of women for political rights had not become a current issue, and major steps on this matter were taken following the proclamation of the republic. During this period, the societies and individual stragglers for women's rights pursued a silent, but determined approach. However, there were no active groups of women struggling for women's rights in Turkey. Women remained passive on the matter due to their lack of education and consciousness. Since women did not oppose to the current social system by mass action, societies dealing with issues related to women would be leading the efforts to make the community adopt the rights granted to women, collaborating with the government. Turkish Association of Women was the first women's society of Turkish Republic to defend women's rights with its efforts. This association was formed following disintegration of Anatolian Women's Association for the Defense of the Motherland, which had been established during the Turkish National Struggle for Independence. The association worked actively in supporting the revolutionist moves in the first years of the newly found Republic (1923- 1935), but then changed its regulations relative to the ongoing events in the country, and turned to be the first women's society working for political rights. Political rights of Turkish women began with the granting of the right to participate in municipal elections on April 3, 1930, and this right was first exercised in the municipal elections held in 1933. The right to elect and be elected a member of the parliament was granted to women on December 5, 1934, and was exercised in general elections held in 1935. In 1930, granting the Turkish women the right to participate in municipal elections was received favorably in foreign countries. Publications were disseminated in favor of the Turkish State, that spoke highly of the social and political rights granted to women. This progress in women's rights in the Turkish Republic excited women's associations worldwide, and was monitored carefully.Some women's associations in need of help made contacts with the Turkish Association for Women, which made leading efforts in gaining political rights with its active approach on women's issues. The Turkish Association for Women held correspondences especially with the western women's associations, and informed them about happenings in Turkey, and other matters as well. The Turkish Association for Women not only participated in conferences and international women's congresses held in western countries, but also monitored closely the activities of western women's associations. In spite of excessive efforts that the Turkish Association for Women exhibited in order to improve relations with western women's associations, we can see that they did not take the same steps towards women's associations in Muslim countries. The election in which women participated for the first time in 1935 was held in a two stage election setting, where the only party was the Republican People's Party (CHF). Male and female candidates were mainly chosen by senior officials of the party, as it was the case in previous elections. Interest of women in the election, both as parliamentary candidates and secondary electors, was relatively high. Participation in the election held on February 8, 1935 was as high as 80% especially in big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, and it was declared that approximately 48% of the voters in these cities had been women. Although this was the first election in which women took part the participation was very high, which is a positive development with regards to showing women's interest in the matter. According to the results of the election in 1935, for a total of 399 parliament members required to be elected, 386 deputies were unanimously elected from CHF candidates, 17 of whom were women, and 13 independent candidates were elected by majority votes, 4 of whom were minorities. Even though it is cited in some sources that 18 women entered the Parliament in this election, actually this number was 17. However, in early 1936, in a special election carried out for empty seats in parliament, a retired teacher named Hatice Özgelen who was elected to be a deputy of Çankırı increased this number to 18. Thus, women members comprised 4.5% of all members of the parliament, which has been the highest ratio achieved ever since. Forasmuch as, Turkish women were represented by only 3 women with a percentage as low as 0.61 when multiparty system was started in 1950-51, and in the most recent election in 1995, they comprised 1.82% of all the members with 13 women. XIThe Turkish Press, which consisted of some major newspapers such as Afyon'da Haber, Akşam, Anadolu, Aydın, Ayvalık, Babalık, Balıkesir, Büyük Gazete, Cumhuriyet, Çankaya, Denizli, Ege, Haber, Halkın Sesi, Hemşeri, Işık, Kambur Felek, Kurun, Milli Gazete, Milliyet, Savaş, Sakarya, Son Posta, Türk Dili, Ulus, Uyanış, Yeni Asır, Yeni Ses, and the Turkish People supported Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Republican People's Party he led throughout the 1935 elections, thus showing their trust in his revolutionist staff and his party. XII