Turkish women have engraved their existence into history with golden letters through their devotion, willpower, insight, and contributions during the many hardships, from the War of Independence to the July 15 Coup Attempt, our country has endured and towards the process of growth and development of the country.

In our day, women take active and intensive roles in every part of life ranging from politics to bureaucracy, academy to education, arts to sports, business world to various fields of work life with their feminine identities. However, this presence has never been a completed and finished state, and should be perceived as a progressing continuum in which all the social actors and institutions must contribute with all their power in order to raise it to an optimum level.  This joint effort carries a vital value in terms of making women’s existence in the public realm and their contributions to the collective production of our country sustainable.

Another significant point this meaningful day places before us is that minimizing and eventually eradicating the violence against women is one of the most urgent areas of responsibility. Our part as universities is to equip and educate our youth on the issue of gender and to maximize the awareness of the society through various events and organizations. This kind of activities will unmistakably make significant contributions to the realization of social behaviour change in the medium and long-term.

With these feelings and thoughts, I celebrate the March 8, International Women’s Day!

Prof. Dr. Sait BİLGİÇ
Rector