Abstrakt
In 2014 local elections, pro-Kurdish leftist party in Turkey won close to 110 municipalities. At that moment, the party put in place a co-presidency system in accordance to which one woman and one man share the mayoral status and competences.
In June 2015 legislative election, when the pro-Kurdish party crossed the 10% threshold for the first time, it was responsible for the major increase in number of women deputies in Turkish parliament. In the subsequent election in November 2015, the decrease in the party's vote share meant also a decrease in the proportion of women deputies, currently at 14.9%.
The pro-Kurdish parties (HDP at national level, DBP at local level) offer an arena for women's political representation which is much larger than what is the case for other Turkish political parties.