"Imagine yourself a divorced women carrying your maiden name [as foreseen by legal divorce procedures in Turkey]. You go on holiday together with your children and stay in a hotel, there are visa and passport procedures, or you want a weekly boarder arrangement for your son at military service... But it is extremely difficult to prove that you are the mother because the child's ID indicates the surname of the father only. Not only do you have to tell a stranger about your divorce but furthermore you are compelled to carry the official divorce decision in your bag to be able to present it. And your former husband? Well, since his surname does not change with marriage or divorce, he might not even be aware of such problems..."

Meltem Ağduk from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Istanbul Association of Women's Institutions Coordinator Nazan Moroğlu and General-Secretary of the Association for Support and Education for Women Candidates (KA.DER) lawyer Vildan Yirmibeşoğlu gave the above mentioned examples to summarize the unjust treatment of women who are forced to carry first their father's and later on their husband's surname.

Lifting religious indication is not enough

The three women draw attention to the fact that besides the religious orientation indicated on Turkish IDs, different indications regarding gender leave women in a difficult situation.  These indications include different colours of IDs for man and women, blue for the males and pink for IDs of females, information on "marital status" and the compulsory change of surname back to the woman's maiden name in case of divorce. Ağduk, Moroğlu and Yirmibeşoğlu argue that these indications are contrary to the constitutional principle of equality.

According to Yirmibeşoğlu and Ağduk, a single type of ID cards should be used for man and women in order to overcome such difficulty. Religious indication and marital status should be eliminated and the fields "mother's name" / "father's name" should be altered into "mother's name-surname" and "father's name-surname".

Yirmibeşoğlu indicated that an application has been made to the Ministry of the Interior to issue a uniform, single colour identity card to be implemented by the Istanbul Governorship Human Rights Provincial Council. "We are preparing a reviewed application regarding regulations on the marital status and the woman's surname", Yirmibeşoğlu added.

"Based on article 187 of the Civil Code, women are obliged to adopt the husband's surname upon marriage and to re-adopt the maiden name in case of divorce. Women can use their own surname only in combination with the husband's surname. The woman needs the husband's permission to carry his surname after divorce", Moroğlu explains and emphasizes that this application is contrary to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).  

"Family Name" instead of "Woman's Surname"

The proposal should be reorganized subsequent to the amendment of article 187 of the Civil Code particularly regarding the indication of "family name" instead of the current "woman's surname":

"In case the spouses do not want to carry the surnames prior to marriage, upon a written information to the registrar a common family name can be chosen which is either the woman's or the man's surname. The spouse with a different surname from the chosen family name carries his/her own surname before the family name. If such a choice is not made before the marriage, the woman adopts the man's surname and carries her maiden name before the husband's surname".

Moroğlu concludes, "Such a regulation is in accordance with the principle of equality and leaves the decision of the surname for the children to the family. This means that the woman would have the right to give her surname to the children". (BB/VK)