Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pulled the country out of an international accord designed to protect women, the country’s official newspaper said yesterday, despite calls from campaigners who see the pact as key to combating rising domestic violence.
The Istanbul Convention, forged by Council of Europe member states in the Turkish city of Istanbul, pledged to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence, and promote equality.
Turkey, which signed the accord in 2011, registered a rise in femicides last year.
Photo: Reuters
No reason was provided for the withdrawal, but officials in Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party had last year said that the Turkish government was considering pulling out amid a row over how to curb growing violence against women.
“The guarantee 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,” Turkish Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services Zehra Zumrut said on Twitter, without providing a reason for the move.
Many conservatives in Turkey say that the pact undermines family structures, encouraging violence. They are also hostile to the principle of gender equality in the Istanbul Convention and see it as promoting homosexuality, given its principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
Critics of the withdrawal from the pact have said that it would put Turkey further out of step with the values of the EU, which it remains a candidate to join.
They argue that the deal, and legislation approved in its wake, need to be implemented more stringently.
Turkey is not the first country to quit the accord.
The Polish supreme court scrutinized the pact after a Polish Cabinet member said that Warsaw should quit the “too liberal” treaty.
Erdogan has condemned violence against women, including this month saying that his government would work to eradicate violence against women.
However, critics say that his government has not done enough to prevent domestic violence.
Turkey does not keep official statistics on femicide, but WHO data showed that 38 percent of women in Turkey are subject to violence from a partner in their lifetime, compared with about 25 percent in Europe.
Ankara has taken measures such as tagging individuals known to resort to violence and creating a smartphone app for women to alert police, which has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
Erdogan’s decision comes after he this month unveiled judicial reforms that he said would improve rights and freedoms, and help meet EU standards.
Turkey has been a candidate to join the bloc since 2005, but access talks have been halted over policy differences and Ankara’s record on human rights.
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