Ankara, April 15 (IANS): The Turkish Communist Party's 550 candidates to run in the country's general elections in June are exclusively women, although it is not expected that the party, having no presence in the parliament, will win a single seat.

The party announced in a statement that having only female candidates is not just a statement about women's political engagement, but also its belief that only women can lead the fight against the Turkish establishment, which thrives on humiliating and killing women every day, Efe news agency reported.

In the local elections of 2014, the Communist Party won 19,245 votes, only 0.04 percent of the electorate.

However, the gesture has great symbolic value in a country where female political engagement is markedly low.

Currently, only 78 of the 550 seats in the Turkish Parliament are occupied by women.

The four major parliamentary parties have 520 female candidates combined, representing 23 percent of all contenders.