Review of explicit family policies in Turkey from a systemic perspective

Abstract

In the last decade, Turkey has been going through rapid and extensive change in policies, laws and regulations. Most has stirred substantial public debate. Although the constitution Article 41 openly states the importance of government's role in regulating family life, very limited explicit debate around family policy issues are evident. We discuss current day direct family policies and evaluate the status of these policies from a systemic perspective. In so doing, we review the current Turkish Civil Code as well as the Law on the Protection of the Family, the relevant parts of the labor law and the healthcare policy.