The change has generated shock waves in a country that is recovering from high profile cases of domestic violence and femicides.
It is not clear why Erdogan decided to withdraw from the convention. Turkish women’s rights advocates protested the withdrawal, while some conservatives argue that it undermines traditional family values.
The public debate over the convention peaked in August, when religious and conservative groups began an intense lobbying effort against the convention, criticizing it for degrading family values and defending the LGBTQ community.
Erdogan’s office has come to assure people that withdrawing from the convention will not mean stepping back in regulations on domestic violence and women’s rights. “The guarantee of women’s rights is present in our current laws and especially in our constitution. Our judicial system is dynamic and strong enough to implement new regulations as needed, ”said Family and Social Policy Minister Zehra Zumrut Selcuk on Twitter.
Turkey’s main opposition called the measure an effort to relegate “women to second-class citizens” and promised to return the country to the convention, saying the current government has failed to guarantee the rights of women and children. “You are failing to protect the right to life,” said Gokce Gokcen, an opposition MP on Twitter.
A coalition of women’s groups said the presidential decree to withdraw from the convention looked like a “nightmare” and, in withdrawing from the convention, the government announced that it will no longer protect women from violence.
“It is obvious that this withdrawal will empower women murderers, abusers and rapists,” said the coalition statement.
Turkey does not have separately released femicide figures, but a non-governmental women’s rights group estimates the number of women killed in 2021 at 77.