Turkey Election: More women candidates in this election

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Europe

01:44

Twenty-one percent of the candidates in this election are women. That may be a very low figure, but it's more than any previous parliamentary elections in Turkey. Mark Fontes has more.

55-year-old Ayse Bohuler is a candidate for the ruling Justice and Development Party. This is her 17th year in politics.

AYSE BOHULER, CANDIDATE, JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY "In the time that our party has been in power, Turkey has experienced great changes and developed fast. I feel deeply about that. You shouldn't stay at home just doing housework and dealing with trifles. You should go out and see a bigger world."

Earlier this month, a male candidate from the Justice and Development Party visited a Kurdish residential area, provoking a violent clash that left four people dead. Gamze Tascier, a candidate for the Republican People's Party, says that doesn't happen if a woman visits.

GAMZE TASCIER, CANDIDATE, REPUBLICAN PEOPLE'S PARTY "Women have their advantages in politics. As they can knock on all the voters' doors. They are not just sitting in the parliament room, but should go on streets."

Bohuler says she's been visiting factories, stores and families every day.

AYSE BOHULER, CANDIDATE, JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY "We listen to voter's questions. If they have a problem, we write it down and pass it on to headquarters."

Half of Turkey's eligible voters are women. But there are only 82 women in parliament, accounting for 15 percent of the legislators. That number might rise a little this year, as political parties have raised the number of their female candidates to 904, making a historical high of 21 percent of candidates.