Turkish President Vows To Better Women's Status

Turkey will take new steps to combat violence against women and improve women's social and economic status, said the nation's president on Monday, marking March 8, International Women's Day.

"Women, who make up fully half of humanity, cannot and should not be excluded from politics or any other domain of life," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of the ruling party's women's branch.

Women also constitute almost half of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's 11.5 million members, Erdogan added, stressing the importance his party places on women.

Stating that a new parliamentary commission is being formed to deal with violence against women, Erdogan stressed that no form of violence against women is tolerable.

Emphasizing that women are an essential part of Turkish family life and culture, he stressed that women and building stronger families are intertwined.

"We cannot reach our goal of being a global power without fortifying our national and spiritual foundations," Erdogan said. -