ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Leaders from the United States and Europe denounced what they called Turkey’s disconcerting and worrying decision to withdraw from an international agreement designed to protect women from violence, and urged President Tayyip Erdogan to reconsider.
Erdogan’s government withdrew on Saturday from the Istanbul Convention, which it signed in 2011, after being forged in Turkey’s largest city. Turkey said that internal laws, not external solutions, protect women’s rights.
The Council of Europe agreement is committed to preventing, prosecuting and eliminating domestic violence and promoting equality. Murders of women have increased in Turkey in recent years and thousands of women protested on Saturday against government action in Istanbul and other cities.
The United States, Germany, France and the European Union responded with dismay – marking the second time in four days that European leaders criticized Ankara for rights issues, after a Turkish prosecutor decided to close a pro-Kurdish political party.
US President Joe Biden said Turkey’s withdrawal from the agreement was “deeply disappointing” and a setback in efforts to end violence against women worldwide.
“Worldwide, we are seeing an increase in the number of domestic violence incidents, including reports of growing femicide in Turkey,” said Biden in a statement on Sunday. “Countries should work to strengthen and renew their commitments to end violence against women, not to reject international treaties designed to protect women and hold abusers accountable.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday night that the decision was incomprehensible and “runs the risk of undermining the protection and fundamental rights of women and girls in Turkey (e) sends a dangerous message to the entire world. … Therefore, we cannot fail to urge Turkey to reverse its decision. “
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – who spoke to Erdogan the day before Turkey abandoned the pact – wrote on Twitter on Sunday: “Women deserve a strong legal framework to protect them”, and she asked all signatories to ratify it.
The Council of Europe, which brings together 47 member states, also regretted the decision.
The convention divided Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP) and even his family. Authorities fluctuated to withdraw last year amid a dispute over how to curb domestic violence in Turkey, where femicide has tripled in 10 years, a monitoring group said.
But many conservatives in Turkey and Erdogan’s AKP, with Islamic roots, say the pact undermines family structures, encouraging violence. Some are also hostile to their stance against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“The Istanbul Convention, originally intended to promote women’s rights, was hijacked by a group of people who were trying to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values. Hence the decision to withdraw, ”Turkey’s presidential communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said in a statement.
Paris said the withdrawal from Turkey marked a further setback in respect for human rights, while Berlin said that neither culture, religion or tradition can “serve as an excuse to ignore violence against women”.
Diplomatic tension came after Europe and the United States said last week that the move to close the third largest parliamentary party, the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), undermined democracy in Turkey.
In their video call on Friday, Erdogan, Von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel discussed a dispute, which has cooled, over offshore resources in the eastern Mediterranean.
An EU summit this week will deal with relations with Ankara.
Jonathan Spicer reporting; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Editing by Frances Kerry, Barbara Lewis and Daniel Wallis