Women marched in Istanbul and other cities late Thursday to protest Turkey’s formal exit from a European treaty aimed at preventing violence against women, saying the move stripped them of critical protection at a time when femicides are on the rise.
Turkey signed the treaty, called the Istanbul Convention, in 2011.In March, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued an unexpected decree announcing Turkey’s intention to withdraw from the treaty, which he and members of his Islamist party have framed as part of a Western plot aimed at harming conservative notions of family and encouraging homosexuality. Ankara’s exit from the treaty took effect Thursday.
The Council of Europe, the United States and the United Nations had appealed to Erdogan’s government to remain in the treaty, which sought in part to ensure equal legal protections against abuse for women across Europe. The decision, “in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to deepen the protection gap for women and girls during a time when gender-based violence against women is on the rise,” the U.N. women’s rights committee said in a statement Thursday. “Such an unprecedented act cannot, and does not, have a valid ground and justification,” the statement said.
Erdogan announced his “Action Plan for Combating Violence against Women” on Thursday, which includes goals such as reviewing judicial processes, improving protection services and gathering data on violence.
“Some groups are trying to present our official withdrawal from the Istanbul convention on July 1st as going backwards,” he said. “Just like our fight against violence towards women did not start with the Istanbul Convention, it won’t end with our withdrawal.”
In March, the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications issued a statement saying the Istanbul Convention was “hijacked” by those “attempting to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values.”
Erdogan emphasized traditional family and gender values Thursday, saying combating violence against women was also a fight to “protect the rights and the honor of our mothers, wives, daughters.”
Women, LGBT groups and others have been protesting the decision. They say the convention’s pillars of prevention, protection, criminal prosecution and policy coordination, as well as its identification of gender-based violence, are crucial to protecting women in Turkey.
Hundreds of women gathered Thursday amid a heavy police presence in Istanbul’s main pedestrian thoroughfare. Protesters held colorful banners, feminist and rainbow flags, played music, whistled, and shouted slogans. Police closed off the area but later briefly removed barricades to allow a short march.
Amnesty International’s Turkey campaigner Milena Buyum tweeted from the protest after police re-closed the avenue with barricades: “The irony of hundreds of women & LGBTI+ rights defenders being blocked by a huge number of predominantly male police officers is not lost.” The rights group’s observers said police used tear gas after they told demonstrators to disperse.
On Saturday, police dispersed LGBT demonstrators with tear gas and detained dozens, who were later released.
Data by the We Will Stop Femicide group show that 189 women have been murdered so far in 2021 in the country, and 409 last year.
Earlier, Amnesty International called Turkey’s withdrawal “shameful” in a statement.
“At the stroke of midnight today, Turkey turned its back on the gold standard for the safety of women and girls. The withdrawal sends a reckless and dangerous message to perpetrators who abuse, maim and kill: That they can carry on doing so with impunity,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard.