Turkish family minister studying Finnish social model

Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policies Fatma Sahin on Friday received information on women's policies, disabled individuals, and care for children and the elderly during her talks in Finland. Sahin said that they would compare Finland's (social) system with that of Turkey's. As part of her talks in Helsinki on Friday, Fatma Sahin first met with the Finnish Minister of Health and Social Affairs Paula Risikko. "We have come here to examine Finland's capacity in social welfare, social justice, women's policies, and care for the disabled, children and the elderly. We will compare Finland's social system with that of Turkey," Sahin stressed. "We would especially like to receive information on the flexible working models and how this reflects on the social security network and also learn about the measures taken to increase women's roles in employment," Sahin stated. -"We increased the number of days dads can take off"- Minister Risikko said that, as in other European countries, they had some problems in the health field and they were making efforts for some reforms. "We would like to prevent the youth from being alienated from the society and have developed certain programs to facilitate employment for the disabled individuals," Risikko stressed. We support a flexible working system so everyone could get employed, Risikko stated. "It is the job itself which is the best social security. As such, we aim to provide jobs to everyone. When they are not working, we support our citizens by social assurances," Risikko noted. "We have increased the number of days dads can take off so more women could get employed. We have developed projects so that moms can dedicate hours to their children by working half a day. We try to adjust working hours to support family life. Thanks to holiday leaves, assistance and child care centers, the percentage of women working and their pregnancy has concurrently increased," Risikko indicated. -60 percent of budget goes to social assistance and health services- Minister Sahin later met with the Finnish Minister of Social Services Maria Guzenina-Richardson. Guzenina-Richardson congratulated Sahin for being Turkey's only female minister. Sahin told Richardson that she carried high responsibility and had to work as a team in her post. "As such, we have come to Finland with a strong team," Sahin underlined. Providing information on Finland's health system, Richardson said that the number of foreign health establishments in Finland increased as a result of privatizations made after 1990. We are not pleased with this situation though, Richardson noted. "At times our citizens have to wait in long queues while trying to receive health services from the government. Those with money can receive services from private health establishments. However, those citizens who can not pay the minimum amount of contribution can not receive the services. Such a situation creates inequality and the OECD has warned Finland over this," Richardson stated. Richardson said that the coalition government in Finland was made up of six political parties and complained that certain decisions needed in social policies can not be taken. "We have experienced certain problems in taking care of the elderly in recent years and made some changes in the system. Such services are provided as non-profit making activities," Richardson said. "We provide a monthly assistance of 600 euros to families for their first child. Finland is the European country which provides most residential support with up to 1,000 euros. 60 percent of our budget goes to social assistance and health services," Richardson indicated.