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Ankara’s withdrawal has triggered condemnation from both the United States and the European Union
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The Istanbul Convention signed in 2011, committed its signatories to prevent and prosecute domestic violence and promote equality
Turkey formally withdrew on Thursday from an international treaty to prevent violence against women, Reuters reported.
When the decision was announced in March by president Tayyip Erdogan, it drew condemnation from many Turks and Western allies.
“We will continue our struggle,” Canan Gullu, president of the Federation of Turkish Women’s Associations, told Reuters. “Turkey is shooting itself in the foot with this decision.”
She said that since March, women and other vulnerable groups had been more reluctant to ask for help and less likely to receive it, with COVID-19 fuelled economic difficulties causing a dramatic increase in violence against them.
The Istanbul Convention, negotiated in Turkey’s biggest city and signed in 2011, committed its signatories to prevent and prosecute domestic violence and promote equality.
Proponents of the convention and related legislation say more stringent implementation is needed.
But many conservatives in Turkey and in Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party say the pact undermines the family structures that protect society.
“Our country’s withdrawal from the convention will not lead to any legal or practical shortcoming in the prevention of violence against women,” Erdogan’s office said in a statement to the administrative court on Tuesday.
This month, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic sent a letter to Turkey’s interior and justice ministers expressing concern about a rise in homophobic narratives by some officials, some of which targeted the convention.