![2[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5abadf_f310244424a443b29215dadb17bba49b~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_5,y_0,w_1069,h_1080/fill/w_101,h_102,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/2%5B1%5D.jpg)
By Narince Erkan
When Turkey’s President Erdogan issued a decree announcing that Turkey would be withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention, women in the country were once again let down and left behind. The Convention, ironically named after the Turkish city of Istanbul, where it was signed by 45 countries and the European Union, aims to combat gender-based violence against women and girls. Turkey was the first country to ratify the Convention in 2012, and now it is the first country to withdraw from it on 1st July 2021.
The ratification of the Convention was a crucial first step in uniting countries around the world in the fight against gendered violence. One unique aspect of the Convention is its uncompromising stance against discrimination, with provisions specifically affording protection to refugee and migrant women. It also attempts to change how societies view women, tackling issues such as sexism and misogyny to ensure that the improvement is not just superficial, but also cultural. For instance, independent organisations like the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) monitor the implementation of the Convention, ensuring that the legislation of national governments reflects its principles.
The Istanbul Convention has been a catalyst of change around the world. For example, the construction of shelters for victims of domestic violence in Finland was classified as a “state responsibility” as a result of the Convention. Iceland, Sweden, Greece, Croatia, Malta and Denmark are among the countries that now classify rape as ‘sex without consent’, in accordance with the Istanbul Convention. In England and Wales it was reported that conviction rates for rape cases are lower than any other crime with only 5.7% of reported rapes usually ending up in a conviction. This new definition has drastically increased the number of rape convictions in these countries: in Sweden, for instance, rape convictions rose by 75% in just two years after this legislative change.
Protesters after President Erdoğan announced Turkey was leaving the Istanbul Convention. DIEGO CUPOLO/NURPHOTO/GETTY
However, the need to fight against violence towards women is especially important in Turkey. Although the Turkish Government does not keep official statistics, UN Women emphasises the importance of data when tackling violence against women. The more data is collected globally and regionally the better we understand and can respond to this problem. The World Health Organisation has stated that 38% of women in Turkey endure violence at the hands of their partner in their lifetime, compared to just 25% in the European Union. From 2010 until 2017, it was reported that 118 women were killed in the city of Izmir alone. Moreover, according to the Turkish Feminist Group “We Will Stop Femicide”, 474 women were murdered in Turkey in 2019 by their family members or partners. Women in Turkey live in fear of being slaughtered by their partners, but also by men roaming the streets. A study examining femicides over 10 years in multiple cities in Turkey found that excluding femicide by intimate partners, 25% of all other killings were committed by strangers. Evidently, violence against women is deeply present in Turkey, stemming from the view that women are inferior to men.
One of the biggest facilitators of this culture of violence is the Turkish Government, which persistently uses rhetoric that reinforces gender inequality. Former Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek once stated that women looking for jobs in Turkey were responsible for the rising rates of unemployment in the country, while former Mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, stated that women who are pregnant as a result of rape should die before they get an abortion. Meanwhile, the current President Erdoğan believes that “women are not equal to men”, and claims that “women who work instead of becoming mothers reject their femininity”. With economic and social changes in Turkey making women more financially independent, feminist scholar Fatmagül Berktay has argued that an increase in “honor-killings” of women is due to a crisis of masculinity among men, exacerbated by the fear that they are losing control of women. It is not surprising, therefore, that this long-brewing distaste for women’s rights has resulted in the government deciding to leave the Istanbul Convention.
The Turkish Government has characterised the Convention as a threat to “family values'', arguing that the definition of gender it puts forward promotes homosexuality. The Istanbul Convention defines gender as “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men”, and this definition is central in defining what constitutes gender-based violence against women.
Although Turkey is the first to withdraw from the Convention, it is not the first member country to be critical of it. For example, the Hungarian parliament refused to ratify the convention in 2020 because it promoted “destructive gender ideologies”. Bulgaria ruled that the Convention was unconstitutional in 2018, and Slovakian lawmakers voted against it in 2019. This overall trend points to a bigger and a more fundamental problem. As an ‘uprising’ brews against the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe is afraid that Turkey’s withdrawal will encourage other countries to follow suit. This belief stems from the criticisms coming from multiple other European countries such as Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland also expressing similar concerns over cultural norms that causes resistance to the convention.
Protests in Poland after plans to leave the Istanbul Convention were announced,
Getty Images.
Although the withdrawal from the Convention is devastating for Turkey and Turkish women, it also is damaging for the Convention on an international scale. Although ambitious, it is undeniable that the Convention has done a great deal to improve the lives of countless women around the world. Let alone improving, gender-based violence in Turkey has arguably taken a turn for the worse. Statistically at least 367 women were murdered in Turkey in 2021, less than in the previous year (409) although still signaling one woman dead every day of the year. Now due to Turkey leaving the Istanbul Convention the consequences of these and the protections afforded to women are below minimal. As Turkey officially left the Convention on 1st July 2021, the fate of millions of women is in the hands of men once again.
Comments