Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

International News

Turkey withdraws from European treaty protecting women

FILE – In this Monday, March 8, 2021, photo, protesters chant slogans during a rally to mark International Women’s Day in Istanbul. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree early Saturday, March 20, 2021, annulling Turkey’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention, a blow to women’s rights advocates, who say the agreement is crucial to combating domestic violence. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has withdrawn from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first to sign 10 years ago and that bears the name of its largest city.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decree early Saturday annulling Turkey’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention is a blow to women’s rights advocates, who say the agreement is crucial to combating domestic violence.

The Council of Europe’s Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, called the decision “devastating.”

“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,” she said.

The Istanbul Convention states that men and women have equal rights and obliges state authorities to take steps to prevent gender-based violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

Some officials from Erdogan’s Islam-oriented party have advocated a review of the agreement, arguing it encourages divorce and undermines the traditional family, which they say are contrary to the country’s conservative values. Critics also claim the treaty promotes homosexuality through the use of categories like gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. They see that as a threat to Turkish families. Hate speech has been on the rise in Turkey, including the interior minister who described LGBT people as “perverts” in a tweet.

Women’s groups and their allies who have been protesting to keep the convention intact immediately called for demonstrations across the country Saturday under the slogan “Withdraw the decision, apply the treaty.”

Violence against and killing of women is on the rise in Turkey, according to rights groups.

A total of 77 women have been killed since the start of the year, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. At least 409 women were killed in 2020, according to the group.

Turkey’s minister for family, labor and social policies tweeted that women’s rights are still protected by Turkish laws and the judicial system is “dynamic and strong enough” to enact new regulations. Zehra Zumrut Selcuk also tweeted that violence against women is a crime against humanity and the government would continue to have “zero tolerance” for it.

Turkey was the first country to sign the Council of Europe’s “Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence” at a committee of ministers meeting in Istanbul in 2011. The law came into force in 2014 and Turkey’s constitution says international agreements have the force of law.

Some lawyers claimed Saturday that the treaty is still active, arguing the president cannot withdraw from it without the approval of parliament, which ratified it in 2012.

But Erdogan gained sweeping powers with his re-election in 2018, setting in motion the change in Turkey from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency.

Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/world-news-turkey-europe-istanbul-violence-f096c185314cde20dce2504a70ee6889

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Business News

The Brenner Base Tunnel will form the main part of a 64 km mega-tunnel under the Alps between Austria and Italy, making it the...

Crime News

ATLANTA (AP) — Sixty-one people have been indicted in Georgia on racketeering charges following a long-running state investigation into protests against a proposed police...

Business News

Tyligulska Wind Power Plant, located to the west of Kherson, is the world’s only windfarm to be built in a major conflict zone. Lucy...

Business News

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has put forth a recommendation to halt the €140 million renovation project for the Kostenets-Septemvri railway in Bulgaria, while...

Copyright © 2023 Newsworthy News | Global | Political | Local | All News | Website By: Top Search SEO