Last week, Turkey announced its withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a fundamental European treaty that aims to prevent and combat domestic violence and other types of violence against women.
As a result, thousands of people took to the streets of Turkish cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir on Saturday to protest.
The country become angrier after the trending Turkish Twitter hashtag #SezenUnlu, in response to local media reports of a 17-year-old pregnant girl who was stabbed 16 times in Izmir. Sezen Unlu, the Izmir girl who was stabbed to death, was five months pregnant and had been married to the 24-year-old man identified as Anil Y. The murder suspect had previously assaulted Unlu, her father told Turkish news outlet Cumhuriyet, prompting the couple’s separation.
“If they had arrested him, my daughter would be alive,” Serdar Unlu, Sezen’s father, said.
Anil Y allegedly stabbed Sezen Unlu to death on the street and was arrested after fleeing the scene.
“My daughter was constantly under surveillance,” Serdar Unlu said. “They released the murderer, despite the complaint and the decision of suspension. Two to three months later he killed my daughter.”
A total of 300 women were killed in Turkey in 2020, according to the femicide report from women’s organization We Will Stop Femicide Platform. Ninety-seven women were killed by their husbands, another 53 were killed by their partners and more than 180 women were killed in their homes last year.
Eighty-seven women have already been killed this year. However, these numbers are unofficial, and they could be much higher because Turkey does not keep official statistics on femicide.
Ironically, the treaty designed to protect women was drafted in Istanbul, hence the name of the convention. Turkey, the host nation in 2011, was the first country to sign the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence at a meeting of the Committee of Ministers. The law went into effect in 2014 and Turkey’s constitution specifies that international agreements have the force of law.
Marija Pejčinović Burić, Council of Europe Secretary General, called Turkey’s decision “devastating” as it serves as a blow to progress for women’s rights in the country, the Council of Europe reports.
“Turkey announced withdrawal from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women is devastating news,” Buric said. “The Istanbul Convention covers 34 European countries and is widely regarded as the gold standard in international efforts to protect women and girls from the violence that they face every day in our societies. This move is a huge setback to these efforts and all the more deplorable because it compromises the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyond.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially signed the decree to withdraw Turkey from the Istanbul Convention on March 20. Though Erdoğan did not directly comment on the cancellation of the Istanbul Convention, his Directorate of Communications issued a statement that said returning to family values was the reason for exiting the treaty.
“Initially, the Istanbul Convention aims to promote the strengthening of women’s rights, Turkey is trying to normalize homosexuality is incompatible with social and family values have been manipulated by a sector,” the statement read. “The Istanbul Convention, originally intended to promote women’s rights, was hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality. The decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention by no means denotes that Türkiye ‘compromises the protection of women’.”
Erdoğan’s Directorate of Communications also stated that they would keep in place Law No. 8264, which was accepted in March 2012 to add on to the Istanbul Convention. The purpose of this law is to protect the women, children and family members who have been subject to the violence and to regulate procedures of preventing the violence against those people.
Aligned with Erdoğan, Turkish Minister for Family, Labor and Social Policy Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk believes that women’s rights are sufficiently protected by Turkish laws, the judicial system is strong, and accepting other documents is pointless. Selçuk said that the judicial system is “dynamic and strong enough” to enact new regulations.
“The Istanbul Convention is not our only tool in combating violence against women, we have many tools,” Selçuk said to an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent. “Our position on combating violence against women has not changed. We will continue to fight with the same will and the same determination under the leadership of our president and under the coordination of our public institutions and organizations.”
Selçuk finished the preparations for the Fourth National Action Plan on Combating Violence Against Women covering the years 2021-2025, which she boasts of its completion under the coordination of the ministry.
As tensions continue to rise, amid an economic collapse and Erdoğan’s continued efforts to exert his power, protesters remain hopeful for change and will not let up.
Gökçe Gökçen, deputy chairperson of the main Turkish opposition party, Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the party will fight to bring back the convention. Gökçen stated that her party is determined to do it if Eroğan will not, Turkish news agency Bianet reports.
“We, as millions of women, are very powerful in the face of all attacks targeting our lives and in the face of one man. And, whether they want it or not, we will win,” said Gökçen. “We will tell our citizens all across Turkey about the İstanbul Convention and the one man’s betrayal of women. We will ensure equal representation of women in politics and socialize our legislative proposal that we drafted in the light of civil society’s views.If they do not implement it, we will do it and we will be in solidarity and closer contact with women’s organizations.”
Photo: Protesters in Turkey. Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/condevcenter/33397033076
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