President Erdoğan stresses equality for women in all spheres

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed his support women in their struggle to obtain rights claim and condemned sexist assaults.

"Women do not expect favors but justice. They do not demand quotas but a fair race. They do not want to be abused but respected," he told the 21st Women Workers' Grand Convention of metal unions Tuesday in capital Ankara to mark International Women's Day.

Erdoğan underlined the role and significance of women in his 40-year political life, throughout which he said he was supported by women who stood by him in all the battles he fought.

"Behind all the achievements I gained, there has always been the endeavor, great effort and sacrifice of women," he said.

He noted that nobody could turn a deaf ear to or turn their back on women's demands.

"We have always stood by our women's demand for justice, and protested against abuses based on their gender," he said.

The president stated that the mentality of keeping women housebound and isolated from economic and social life had been prevalent until recently.

Erdoğan further maintained that there should be no discrimination between women wearing headscarves and those who did not.

"Women should not be assessed by the headscarf on their head or dress on them but by the opinions in their head and the belief in their heart," he said.

The president however voiced his objection to attempts to free women by destroying the "institution of family" and related values.

"This is the kind of approach that paves the way for abuses against women in all fields," he said.

Erdoğan also highlighted the role of women in the Turkish people's War of Independence back in the 1920s.

"There was also sister Şerife who froze to death while carrying ammunition to the front. There were also the Black Fatmas who fought against the enemy in Erzurum and Izmir with their troops consisting of women," he said.