BEVERLY HILLS, March 20, (THEWILL) – Turkey has pulled out of a landmark European treaty aimed at protecting women from violence, despite rising domestic abuse and the country’s high femicide rate.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree early on Saturday morning annulling Turkey’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which is designed to promote equality and obliges state authorities to prevent violence against women, protect survivors and prosecute perpetrators.
No reason was provided for the withdrawal in the Official Gazette, where it was announced. But top government officials said domestic law rather than outside fixes would protect women’s rights.
“The guarantees of women’s rights are the current regulations in our bylaws, primarily our constitution. Our judicial system is dynamic and strong enough to implement new regulations as needed,” Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, the family, labour and social policies minister, said on Twitter.
The Council of Europe Accord, called the Istanbul Convention, pledged to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence and promote equality. Turkey signed it in 2011 but femicide has surged in the country in recent years.
The convention, forged in Turkey’s biggest city, had split Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP) and even his family.
Last year, officials said the government was mulling pulling out amid a row over how to curb growing violence against women.
Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, called Turkey’s decision “devastating” given the violence women and girls face.
“This move is a huge setback to these efforts and all the more deplorable because it compromises the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyond,” she said.
Opposition politicians said Erdogan by law cannot act without Parliament’s consent. But many conservatives in Turkey and in his Islamist-rooted AKP say the pact undermines family structures, encouraging violence.
Some are also hostile to the Istanbul Convention’s principle of gender equality and see it as promoting homosexuality, given the pact’s non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
“Preserving our traditional social fabric will protect the dignity of Turkish women. For this sublime purpose, there is no need to seek the remedy outside or to imitate others,” Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Twitter
Critics of the withdrawal have said it would put Turkey further out of step with the European Union, which it remains a candidate to join. They argue the convention, and legislation approved in its wake, need to be implemented more stringently.
Turkey does not keep official statistics on femicide. But the rate roughly tripled in the last 10 years, according to a group that monitors femicide. So far in 2021, 78 women have been murdered or died under suspicious circumstances, it said.
World Health Organization data has shown 38% of women in Turkey are subject to violence from a partner in their lifetime, compared to about 25% in Europe.
“Shame on this bigotry, patriarchy, heartlessness that protects bullies and murderers instead of women”, Turkish author, Elif Safak said on Twitter of the withdrawal.
Turkey is not the first country to move towards pulling out of the accord. Poland’s highest court scrutinised the pact after a cabinet member said Warsaw should quit a treaty that the nationalist government considers too liberal.
While critics say his government has not done enough, Erdogan has condemned violence against women and said this month it would work to eradicate it.
Erdogan’s decision comes after he unveiled judicial reforms this month that he said would improve rights and freedoms, and help meet EU standards.
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