Ayşen Gürcan (born 1963) is a Turkish academic and bureaucrat who served as the Minister of Family and Social Policy in the interim election government formed by Prime Minister

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...

from 28 August to 17 November 2015. She is the first government minister in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

to wear a

headscarf A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...

. A member of the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

, she was elected to the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

in the 2023 parliamentary election from

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

Early life and career

Ayşen Gürcan was born in

Burdur Burdur is a city in southwestern Turkey. The seat of Burdur Province and of Burdur District,İl Bel ...

in 1963 and graduated from primary and middle school there.

Academic career

In 1986, Gürcan graduated from

Anadolu University Anadolu University () is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey. Anadolu University Distance Education Faculty (or Anadolu University Global Campus) serves as the national provider of distance education and is a member of the European Associ ...

Faculty of Communication Sciences. Between 1987 and 1989, she worked for a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

on the topic of educational communication and planning. She obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

on the topic of education technology. Between 1990 and 2005, she was a research member, teaching member and staff member at the Anadolu University Faculty of Education. She has published numerous works on educational sciences, teaching and learning, educational communication, techno-psychology and family education. She is currently a member of teaching staff at

Istanbul Commerce University Istanbul Ticaret University () is a foundation university which was founded in 2001 by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Education and Social Services Foundation. Istanbul Ticaret University, which provides education and training in two differe ...

Bureaucratic career

Between 2006 and 2011, Gürcan served as the general manager for Family and Social Research at the Prime Ministry of Turkey. Between 2011 and 2013, she served as the Undersecretary to the Ministry of Family and Social Policy.

Minister of Family and Social Policy

After the June 2015 general election resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...

, unsuccessful coalition negotiations raised speculation over whether President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

would call an early election in the event that AKP leader

was unable to form a government within the given constitutional time of 45 days. As required by the 114th article of the

Constitution of Turkey The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...

, the calling of a snap general election by the President necessitates the forming of an interim election government, in which all parties represented in Parliament are given a certain number of ministers according to how many MPs they have. If a party refused to send ministers to the interim cabinet, then independents must take their place. Erdoğan called a new general election for November 2015 in late August, with Davutoğlu being tasked with the formation of the interim government. With the main opposition

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) and the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...

(MHP) refusing to send ministers to the cabinet, the 8 ministries that the two parties were entitled to were vacated for independents. As a result, Gürcan was appointed as the independent Minister of Family and Social Policy. Gürcan became the only woman in the interim election cabinet and the first ever government minister in Turkey to wear a

. The appointment was seen as significant due to the staunchly secular political traditions of Turkey, which until recently banned the use of the headscarf by MPs and civil servants. It was claimed that Davutoğlu had to phone her 8 times to invite her to become a Minister, since she was abroad while the interim government was being formed.

'Börek' controversy

Amid several controversial tweets on her ''

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

'' account, Gürcan claimed that if a Muslim family women did not know how to make

börek ''Börek'' or burek or byrek is a family of pastries or pies made in the Middle East and the Balkans. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be ...

form of pasty originating from Turkey">pasty.html" ;"title=" form of pasty"> form of pasty originating from Turkey then that family would fall apart. The tweet attracted controversy for displaying an allegedly demeaning message for Women's rights in Turkey">women's rights and independence in Turkey. When asked about the statement, Gürcan attracted even more criticism by claiming that she 'did not think' she had made such a claim and that her 'friends were investigating'. In a subsequent press statement when she was asked about what she was doing as the new Family and Social Policy Minister, she joked 'for now I'm making börek.' Her reply was hailed as a shutdown of the börek commotion by pro-government newspapers but were criticised as an attempt to brush off her old controversial comments by the pro-opposition media.

Polemic with the Undersecretary

In September 2015, it was reported that Gürcan had written a complaint about the Undersecretary to the Family and Social Policy Ministry, Nesrin Çelik, to the President of Turkey. The complaint, which allegedly arose from institutional disagreements between the two women, was eyed sceptically by several commentators since Çelik was well known to be close to President

. In a reply to her complaint, Gürcan was told by the Presidency that she only had 2 months left in office and she should not interfere with such issues. Former Interior Minister

Efkan Ala Efkan Ala (born 21 February 1965) is a Turkish politician and former civil servant who served as the Minister of the Interior from November 2015 to August 2016;. He previously held the same post from 2013 to June 2015 despite not being a member ...

also came out in support of Çelik.

Controversy

Gürcan's appointment as a minister was controversial due to her views on religious education, Islamic punishment and the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIL) on her ''

'' account. In 2014, she tweeted that education had no use if it did not contribute to religious or ethical wellbeing. In February 2015, she made numerous tweets in favour of the Islamic form of retributive justice, namely ''

Qisas ''Qisas'' or ''Qiṣāṣ'' () is an Islamic term interpreted to mean "retaliation in kind",Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment In Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, "eye for an eye", or retributive justice. ''Qisas'' and ''diyya'' a ...

'' (

eye for an eye "An eye for an eye" (, ) is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the wr ...

). On numerous occasions and after the 2014 presidential election, she tweeted both support and admiration for AKP founder

, resulting in her de facto 'independent' status in the interim election cabinet coming under scrutiny. In response to videos of beheadings and pictures documenting the brutality of the ISIL terrorist organisation in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, Gürcan tweeted that no-one should take such footage seriously just 'because the West wants it'. After becoming a minister, Gürcan deleted her ''Twitter'' account.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurcan, Aysen 1963 births Living people Turkish women civil servants Turkish civil servants Members of the 63rd government of Turkey People from Burdur Turkish women academics Academic staff of Anadolu University Anadolu University alumni Women government ministers of Turkey Government ministers of Turkey Ministers of family and social policy of Turkey Academic staff of Istanbul Commerce University 21st-century Turkish women politicians Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey Turkish women MPs Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians People from Eskişehir Province