1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Bridging Asia and Europe, Turkey is a country full of contradictions. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,000 It's split between tradition and modernity, 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,000 a split which can be seen clearly in the lives of Turkish women. 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Since the days of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 women have had equal legal rights. 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,000 They even won the right to vote before women in France. 7 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 But it's a different story in some rural areas. 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,000 There, tradition and family dominate. 9 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,000 It's early morning in central Istanbul. 10 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,000 The streets are filled with the aroma of fresh produce. 11 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,000 The storeholders and shopkeepers are ready for a hard day's work. 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Only a few kilometres away, a busy day starts 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000 for one of the country's most powerful businesswomen. 14 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,000 Gula Sabancı is the head of Sabancı Holding, 15 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,000 a huge conglomerate dealing in everything from food to banking and cars. 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,000 One of her tasks today is to view and approve a new company video. 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 The family business started out in 1967. 18 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Gula's uncle chose her to succeed him at the head of the family empire 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,000 rather than any of his male relatives. 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,000 In Turkey, less than a third of women is officially employed. 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 And one in four women is unable to read or write. 22 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000 Gula Sabancı represents another facet of the country, 23 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 a growing group of educated, modern, working Turkish women. 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,000 In her eyes, the Western Europeans who see Turkey 25 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,000 as an overpopulated, backward country are not seeing the full picture. 26 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 First of all, for those who are friends in Turkey, 27 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,000 first of all, for those who are friends in Europe 28 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,000 who are worried about Turkey's accession to Europe, 29 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,000 the good news is they are not coming tomorrow. 30 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,000 There's ten years minimum, so they should not worry about it. 31 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 That's the second thing, is in ten years' time, 32 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:14,000 the Turkish economy will be in much better shape than today. 33 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,000 Today, the country's economy is made up of a modern manufacturing and service sector 34 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 alongside a large undeveloped farm sector. 35 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000 According to Gula Sabancı, the country's fast-growing and now stable economy 36 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,000 will benefit Europe in two ways, 37 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,000 bringing efficient production as well as a huge market 38 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,000 of 70 million mostly young people. 39 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,000 In return, Europe will bring social stability to Turkey. 40 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 We have great respect for Europe. 41 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 You know why? Because of human rights. 42 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Because of high standards and norms of human rights. 43 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,000 And that is why we respect Europe. 44 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,000 That is why we want to be part of Europe. 45 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Midday in the north of Istanbul. 46 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Lunchtime begins for thousands of managers and office workers 47 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,000 in the modern headquarters of Sabancı Holding. 48 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 In the narrow streets close to the old city, 49 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,000 crowds of people stroll through the markets and bazaars 50 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,000 while the faithful are called to prayer. 51 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,000 It's about this time that Ilgin Şimşek wakes up 52 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,000 and begins to spin and scratch her vinyl discs on the turntable. 53 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Ilgin is one of just four female DJs in Turkey. 54 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 She learned to mix beats and get people dancing 55 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,000 in a famous DJ school in Paris. 56 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Now she plays her music every night in a trendy nightclub in Istanbul. 57 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:53,000 At first, Ilgin's family weren't too keen on her doing what they saw as a man's job. 58 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000 But her persistence finally persuaded her parents. 59 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,000 It's not bad to work in a club, you know. 60 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,000 If you trust yourself, if your parents trust you, it's OK. 61 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,000 It's not a problem. 62 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 They were really nervous when they saw what I'm doing. 63 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,000 They were OK. 64 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Like many other modern Turkish young people, Ilgin is highly ambitious. 65 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000 I want to grow, like, to be a producer. 66 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Because you can play maybe more five years, maybe six years. 67 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,000 And then I just want to touch my label like this. 68 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,000 It's good to dream about this. 69 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,000 I want to touch my vinyl, you know. 70 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Ilgin has never felt any big differences in her professional or social life 71 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000 from any other young people in Western Europe. 72 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000 She knows, though, that in many rural areas of Turkey, 73 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 young women have a completely different lifestyle. 74 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,000 She's unhappy that it's this one-sided picture of traditional Turkey 75 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,000 which is the one usually portrayed in the Western media. 76 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Yasir Saiman is another woman who wants to change 77 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,000 the male-dominated image of her country. 78 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 She's ready to take on Western prejudices 79 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,000 and the traditional mindset of Turkish society. 80 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,000 She's one of the rare female trade unionists in the country, 81 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:15,000 in addition to being a journalist, writer and women's rights defender. 82 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,000 In her opinion, since the late 90s, the Turkish women's movement 83 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 has brought about important changes in society 84 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 with women's rights moving closer to international standards. 85 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 However, many rights exist on paper, but are yet to be put into practice. 86 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,000 In Turkey, there is not a problem with laws, 87 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,000 but it's the unwritten laws, the burden of tradition 88 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,000 and a male-dominated society that are the greatest obstacles for women. 89 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000 So the problem really lies in men's power. 90 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,000 So the problem really lies in men's power, 91 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,000 tradition, religion and unwritten laws. 92 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Several years ago, this CD could never have been part of Yasir's collection. 93 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Being of Kurdish origin, she enjoys music, theatre and radio broadcasts 94 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000 in her own language, something banned until 1991. 95 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 But she says that there's still a long way to go. 96 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,000 Özcan Çalışkan is a defender of laws. 97 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,000 She's a police chief in Turkey's capital Ankara, 98 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,000 responsible for 300 people and 75 local police units. 99 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Her father disapproved of Özcan's plans to study French, 100 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,000 so she became a policewoman, something she's never regretted. 101 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000 About 10% of police officers are women. 102 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,000 That's why we don't have any difficulties in the organisation 103 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,000 and we are not treated any differently. 104 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,000 And legally, that's the case in almost all sectors of the society. 105 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,000 On a routine inspection of Ankara's police stations, 106 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,000 she monitors the way police officers carry out their duties. 107 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,000 In addition to checking documents, 108 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,000 she also inspects the detention conditions for people in police custody. 109 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,000 In recent years, Turkey has made significant progress 110 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,000 in reducing police brutality and violence. 111 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000 According to Özcan Çalışkan, the EU helped in contributing 112 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,000 to the improvement of police working methods. 113 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,000 The police, especially its criminal units, 114 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:29,000 have seriously invested to ensure that cases are solved 115 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:34,000 on the delivery of proof rather than on the basis of pure suspicion, 116 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 as was common practice before. 117 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:46,000 In towns and cities, research stations and regional criminal laboratories 118 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 have been set up to collect all evidence 119 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,000 and solve cases even from just a single hair. 120 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:04,000 We're now 2,500 km away from Turkey, in the heart of Brussels. 121 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,000 Many Turkish workers from rural areas have moved to Europe since the late 60s. 122 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Today, Europe's Turkish community is around 3 million strong. 123 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,000 The image many Europeans have of Turks is that they're insular, 124 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,000 religious and culturally conservative. 125 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,000 This superficial picture bothers Emine Bozkurt, 126 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 the first Dutch member of the European Parliament of Turkish origin. 127 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Turkey is a country with many faces. 128 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:36,000 You have very modern cities, even more modern than many European cities, 129 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,000 but you have also the rural parts of Turkey 130 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,000 and that same case of different faces you see here in the Turkish community too. 131 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Emine, herself the daughter of an immigrant Turkish worker, 132 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,000 has drawn up a European Parliament resolution on women's rights in Turkey. 133 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,000 The resolution, which was adopted with a huge majority, 134 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,000 draws attention to four main problems. 135 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:06,000 Violence against women, education, participation in the labour market 136 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,000 and the fact there are so few women in Turkish politics. 137 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,000 But the resolution recognises that Turkey has carried out legislative reforms 138 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000 which were given a boost by the prospect of EU membership. 139 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:27,000 I think that the talks about membership of the European Union 140 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,000 has worked as a pressure cooker in this way. 141 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:37,000 I think a lot of the things worked faster and faster and also to help 142 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:43,000 because the European Union has a lot of attention to human rights. 143 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 In Brussels, Emine Bozkurt finishes her busy day 144 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,000 in the European Parliament's Women's Rights Committee. 145 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:03,000 At the same time in Istanbul, DJ Ilgin starts to pump up the beat in the nightclub 146 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,000 overlooking the waves of the Bosphorus 147 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:09,000 and the roofs of mosques, churches and beautiful palaces.