Reasons Behind Turkiye's Withdrawal of Istanbul Convention

Sara Andalousi | 2 years ago

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On July 19, the Turkish Council of State confirmed Turkiye's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the first binding international treaty to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, Turkish media reported.

The official Anadolu news agency said, "The Tenth Chamber of the State Council rejected the request to cancel the presidential decree issued on March 20, 2021, related to the cancellation of the Istanbul Convention."

Several groups, including political parties and non-governmental organizations defending human rights, resorted to the State Council, the highest administrative body in Turkiye, to demand the annulment of the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.

Thousands of people participated in demonstrations when the withdrawal from the agreement was announced in March 2021, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was subjected to harsh criticism from European countries.

 

Justifying the Decision

The Istanbul Convention, signed by 36 countries, is an attempt to establish a legal and institutional framework to combat violence against women.

The Turkish government justified its decision to withdraw from the agreement it signed in 2011 by explaining that the Convention encourages homosexuality and threatens the traditional family structure.

Feminist activists consider that Turkiye's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention weakened Turkish women in the face of violence against them.

However, the Turkish presidency stressed that withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention does not mean in any way complacency in protecting women and that Turkiye will never give up on combating domestic violence.

This came in a statement published by the Turkish Presidency Communication Department referring to Turkiye's unilateral withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on March 20.

The official name of the Istanbul Convention is the Council of Europe Convention on Stopping and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

The statement stated that Article 80 of the agreement allows any of the parties to withdraw by informing the European Council.

 

First to Sign the Agreement

It stressed that Turkiye was the first signatory to the Convention, demonstrating its strong commitment to combating all forms of violence against women and protecting their position in society.

Yet, the statement pointed out that the agreement was initially intended to encourage the promotion of women's rights, but it was manipulated to normalize homosexuality, which contradicts Turkiye's social and family values.

Emphasizing that Turkiye's decision to withdraw from the agreement is based on this reason, and it is not the only country that has great concerns about the agreement, as there are 6 member states of the European Union, which are Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia, who have not ratified this agreement.

Poland had also taken steps to withdraw from the agreement, citing LGBT groups' attempt to impose their ideas of social sexuality on society as a whole.

The statement stated that the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention does not mean in any way the Turkish state's complacency in protecting women. Turkiye will never give up on combating domestic violence, even if it withdrew from the agreement."

The statement also stated that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly affirms that Turkiye will continue to protect the security and rights of all women and that combating violence against women will be at the top of the Turkish government's agenda with absolute zero tolerance.

He explained that Turkiye has taken many concrete steps to support and improve women's rights, and these mechanisms are still in force and that Turkiye will activate new reforms to combat violence against women.

According to the statement, Turkiye, with all its institutions and organizations, will focus on solutions and measures that will meet the needs of society and will work to strengthen the procedures followed in this regard.

The statement indicated that among the legal mechanisms are the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, and Law No. 6284 relating to the protection of the family and the prevention of violence against women, in addition to the country's constitution, and that Turkiye is committed to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

He indicated that Turkiye's withdrawal and the Istanbul Convention would never affect the application of strict, effective, and realistic measures in combating violence against women.

The statement announced that Turkiye would take additional steps to increase the effectiveness of existing measures against domestic violence and violence against women within the framework of the Human Rights Action Plan announced in early March.

 

Tricky Clauses

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, the expert on sociology and researcher at Kent University, Hamza el-Guenouni said: "The Turkish withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention is mainly due to the tricky terms and clauses that can be used to serve special agendas. Mainly to defend the LGBT practices under the pretext of confronting  violence."

The Convention terms, such as domestic violence, refer to all acts of physical, sexual, psychological, or economic violence that occur within the family, in the home, or between former spouses or partners.

The term gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and competencies that a particular society considers appropriate for women and men, and the term (gender-based violence against women) refers to all violence practiced against a woman because she is a woman.

The research Hamza said, "Turkiye's rejection of the Istanbul Convention is most likely due to the following clause: The activation of the provisions of this agreement must be ensured by the parties, especially through measures aimed at protecting the rights of victims, without any discrimination. Especially discrimination based on sex, gender, race or color, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, belonging to a national minority, wealth, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, health, disability, marital or immigrant status, or refugee, or any other status."

He added: "The Convention is keen not to take into consideration culture, customs, religion, traditions, or (honor) within its scope of application."