PodcastErdoğan claims laws, not Istanbul Convention, keep women alive
Speaking on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Turkish President Erdoğan argued that the laws keep women alive, not the Istanbul Convention. Being the first country to sign it back in 2011, Turkey formally withdrew from the convention in 2021, which aims at preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Duvar English
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Nov. 25 once again targeted the Istanbul Convention which aims at preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
“The impositions that the opposition insistently seeks to maintain through the Istanbul Convention have no basis. The slogan that a contract keeps you alive makes no sense except as an ideological fighting apparatus for marginalized groups. They do not know or do not want to see the grave picture in Western countries,” Erdoğan said while speaking on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.
“The European Parliament adopted the directive on combating violence in the family in the middle of this year. Turkey has made the necessary arrangements after 2020 as it did before 2011. Since we took office, we have taken many revolutionary steps. We have launched numerous projects to strengthen women's rights and support them. The law on the protection of the family and prevention of violence against women was the most important regulation, ” he noted.
Erdoğan argued that violence against women was not “even defined as a crime” until 2015 in the Turkish Penal Code.
“Laws, not contracts, keep (people) alive,” Erdoğan claimed.
Turkey was the first country in 2011 to ratify the landmark Istanbul Convention treaty, officially known as the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed the presidential decree on March 20, 2021, quitting the landmark treaty on the grounds that the pact undermines the family.
Some conservatives also pushed for withdrawal saying that the convention was promoting homosexuality through its principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
On July 1, 2021, the country formally left the convention, triggering massive protests and anger from women’s rights groups, who believed the agreement was essential.
Turkey suffers from high rates of femicide. The “We Will Stop Femicides Platform reported 315 femicides and 248 suspicious female deaths in 2023.
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