Female mayor in Turkey

A news item I found especially interesting the other day was about a young women (27) who became the mayor of a small city in southeastern Turkey. She was born in Germany of Turkish parents. She was culturally German but had an affinity for Turkey and was interested to see where her parents came from.

What I found most interesting is that one of her first acts as mayor was organizing a voluntary group of citizens to go around picking up litter that was strewn indiscriminately in the city streets. This was significant to her because she grew up in Germany where people are very concerned about keeping things clean and tidy. It is a cultural thing, you now.

To the credit of the Turkish state it set up a quote for the number of women who should be in civic administration. This act of affirmative action is how Leyla Imret was elected as mayor of Cizre, a city of about 100,000 residents.