In a statement issued on the occasion of 8 March International Women's Day, IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu congratulated all women and underscored the themes of women's rights and gender equality. IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu reminded that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, saw improving the status of women in the society and ensuring their participation in all areas of life as one of the most important priorities and has made a breakthrough in women's rights. IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu emphasized that despite this, there are important problems regarding the situation of women and gender equality, and made the following remarks:

“8 March is a day when issues of women's rights and gender equality come to the fore in Turkey, as in the whole world. First of all, I congratulate all women and the whole society on International Women's Day. Women, who make up half of society, produce much more than half when it comes to labour. They labour doing paid or unpaid work, in the field, in factories and at home. However, when it comes to equal pay, equal rights and freedoms, we unfortunately see that the balances turn against women. We observe a very dangerous and worrying increase in violence against women in recent years. This situation is unacceptable. Steps should be taken to ensure women's equal participation in business, public and political life. All forms of violence against women should be punished in the most severe way, without any penalty reduction."

Stating that IKV is an institution that has always applied positive discrimination towards women in its approach to recruitment and employees, Zeytinoğlu added that utmost attention was being paid to the principle of equal representation in the events and panels organised. Chairman Zeytinoğlu, stressed that women’s rights and gender equality are also important for Turkey’s EU membership goal. Recalling that Turkey was among the first signatories of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, he concluded his remarks by saying:

"As Turkey, we are a candidate country for EU membership and do not accept any alternative other than full membership. The EU is a union of countries founded on common values, the most important of which are ensuring gender equality and the prohibition of gender-based discrimination. The EU has not fully achieved these objectives. However, ensuring gender equality is at the forefront in all policy priorities of the EU. Last year, the EU published a gender equality strategy aimed at addressing existing inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic has made women's situation even more difficult and adversely affected gender equality. As Turkey, we support making improving women’s wages and working conditions, provision of institutional support in child and elderly care and ensuring women’s equal representation in all areas from company boards to the parliament and cabinet important objectives.”