15/11/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
DEM Party Istanbul MP Özgül Saki spoke during the Ministry of Family’s budget deliberations.
Budget and final account deliberations for the Ministry of Family and Social Services’ 2026 fiscal year were held at the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Planning and Budget Commission.
DEM Party Istanbul MP Özgül Saki also spoke during the session. Criticizing the ministry’s budget, Saki stated: “We are faced with a budget presented like an advertisement, like a brochure; between the lines, the lives of women, children, migrants, and LGBTI+ people have been erased.”
Saki referenced Kaos GL Association’s 2025 Employment Survey in her remarks and criticized the ministry’s employment policies, saying:
“According to Kaos GL’s 2025 research, the employment rate of openly LGBTI+ individuals is almost nonexistent. Very few can even express their identities. Since expressing their identities has become a reason to be killed these days, unfortunately they cannot benefit at all from your so-called economic empowerment policies. Therefore, you must finally listen to these Women- this is your ministry’s responsibility. Economic violence is also violence, and all you say is that you are increasing employment. You talk about women entrepreneurs, yet you have no policy whatsoever for women who are killed or subjected to harassment in workplaces. You do not want them anyway; whenever they want to meet with you, you reject them. We will continue to be their voice.”
Saki also questioned the ministry about the exclusion of LGBTI+ people from shelters:
“You announced a socioeconomic support program for women, but unmarried or childless women are excluded. Do you plan to abandon this practice that pits women against the family? And is your Ministry preparing any egalitarian regulatory change regarding the non-admission or exclusion of LGBTI+ individuals to women’s shelters?”
Saki’s question went unanswered. Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş responded to critiques about the “Year of the Family” by saying: “We received incredibly positive feedback about the Year of the Family. Through this initiative, we have once again placed the notion of ‘family’ at the center of the agenda.”
Click-The budget proposal allocates 21 billion lira to “protection of the family”
Tags: human rights, women, media, family, lgbti
