Turkey promising in women’s rights but must lift barriers: UN representative

Turkey was number one in 2017 for the number of companies signing up to the U.N.’s Women Empowerment Principles, according to Alia El-Yassir, who is the U.N. Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Representative to Turkey. While lauding progress to date, El-Yassir also spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about the obstacles to empowering women in the post-coup attempt political environment. “You have very good legislation in place, the challenge is the implementation,” she said, insisting that now was the time to open up the relevant communication channels.