Women protest Turkey’s withdrawal from treaty on violence against women Reuters

Authors: Ece Toksabay and Ali Kucukgocmen

Ankara/Istanbul (Reuters)-Thousands of people took to the streets of Turkey’s largest city on Thursday to protest the country’s withdrawal from an international treaty against violence against women, a move that aroused strong criticism from Western allies .

The protests occurred hours after President Tayyip Erdogan defended his withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, which was negotiated in Turkey’s largest city in 2011 to prevent and prosecute violence against women and domestic abuse .

“We will not be silent, we will not be afraid, we will not bow our heads,” chanted a group of hundreds of women gathered in the capital Ankara. “We will not abandon the Istanbul Convention,” a large purple banner read.

Ozgul, a 26-year-old student, said: “I find that the government is taking away rights rather than improving rights, which is incredible. We wake up every day to find murders of women or transgender murders. As women, it is impossible to feel safe in this country. “

In the presence of a large number of police, more than 1,000 people (mainly women) demonstrated in the center of Istanbul, and there were also smaller-scale protests in the Aegean city of Izmir and other parts of the country.

Erdogan announced his withdrawal in March, saying that Turkey would use local laws to protect women’s rights and defend his actions on Thursday against those who he said described them as “regressive” in combating violence against women.

“Our battle did not start with the Istanbul Convention, and it will not end with our withdrawal from the treaty,” he said.

Ankara’s withdrawal prompted condemnation from the United States and the European Union. Critics said it made Turkey even more disconnected from the European Union, which applied for membership in 1987.

This week the court rejected the appeal to stop the withdrawal.

On Thursday, the three opposition parties also withdrew from the parliamentary committee to protest the decision.

“We will continue our struggle,” Canan Gullu, president of the Federation of Turkish Women’s Associations, said on Wednesday. “Turkey’s decision is to shoot itself.”

She said that since March, women and other disadvantaged groups have been less willing to seek help and less likely to get help. The economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 have led to a sharp increase in violence against them.

Since the sharp rise five years ago, a monitoring team has recorded approximately one female killing every day in Turkey.

Supporters of the convention and related legislation say that stricter enforcement is needed.

Many conservatives in Turkey and Erdogan’s Islamic roots, the AK Party, said that the agreement had destroyed the family. Some people also believe that the Convention promotes homosexuality through its principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Erdogan’s office told the administrative court that rejected the appeal on Tuesday that abandoning the agreement “will not create any legal or practical defects in preventing violence against women”.

This month, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Dunja Mijatovic wrote to the Minister of Interior and Justice of Turkey expressing concern about the increase in homophobic language by some officials, some of whom are targeting the Convention.