Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ addressed women’s problems at the “Atatürk’s Daughters Gather” program in Eskişehir. Eskişehir Metropolitan Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce, party officials and participants attended the program, where a theater performance depicting women’s problems was staged.
Özdağ proposed mandatory treatment for drug addiction and online gambling, increased penalties for violence against women, and tougher sanctions for violations of restraining orders and electronic monitoring. He called for divorce cases to be concluded within six months. “The Turkish state, not gangs, will prevail in the streets,” he said.
Arguing that women in some areas were reluctant to walk alone in the evenings, Özdağ called for asylum seekers and irregular migrants to be sent away. He said economic conditions affected women. He called for university students to receive scholarships at the minimum-wage level instead of 4 thousand lira and to have single-occupancy dorm rooms.
Why it matters
The statements set out a policy framework that addresses women’s safety not only through increased penalties but also in conjunction with addiction, online gambling, divorce proceedings and public order. This framework brings to the fore the question of how violations in the implementation of existing protection tools, such as restraining orders and electronic monitoring, will be prevented. The economic dimension also covers university students as well as women; the proposals on scholarships and housing show the approach to financial pressure in education. However, it has not been explained through which legal regulations, under the responsibility of which institutions and with what financing these proposals would be implemented. Therefore, while the text lays out the problem areas and political preferences for solutions, it leaves the details of implementation open.
Background
Özdağ is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 3 news reports mentioning this name in the last 90 days; the latest is dated 25 September 2026.