![\"turkey-exits-landmark-treaty-protecting-women-against-domestic-violence-rapidnews-dailyrapid\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/turkey-exits-landmark-treaty-protecting-women-against-domestic-violence-rapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTurkey has sparked local and international outrage after it withdrew from the world\u2019s first binding treaty to prevent and combat violence against women.<\/p>\n
The 2011 Istanbul Convention, signed by 45 countries and the European Union, requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Turkey pulled out of the treaty by a presidential decree in a shocking move for human rights activists in the country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No reason was provided for the withdrawal, but officials in Erdogan\u2019s governing Justice and Development (AK) Party had said last year that the government was considering pulling out amid a dispute about how to curb growing violence against women.<\/p>\n
Europe\u2019s top rights body, the Council of Europe, denounced Turkey\u2019s withdrawal from a treaty it sponsored and expressed concern about global efforts to protect women and girls.<\/p>\n
The body\u2019s secretary general, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, said the treaty was a \u201cgold standard\u201d in international efforts to protect women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d said Buric in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Istanbul Convention \u2026 is widely regarded as the gold standard in international efforts to protect women and girls from the violence that they face every day in our societies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erdogan\u2019s communications director Fahrettin Altun said Turkey continues to work to make women participate more in social, economic, political and cultural life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will always say strong women, strong Turkey,\u201d he said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guarantee of women\u2019s rights are the current regulations in our bylaws, primarily our Constitution. Our judicial system is dynamic and strong enough to implement new regulations as needed,\u201d Family, Labour and Social Policies Minister Zehra Zumrut said on Twitter, without providing a reason for the move.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) slammed the government\u2019s move.<\/p>\n
In a video published on Twitter, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said that the government had taken away the rights of 42 million women through a fait accompli.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call on all women to protect their rights,\u201d he said, adding that the government sought to make the lives of Turkish women \u201chell\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gokce Gokcen, deputy chairman of the CHP responsible for human rights, tweeted that abandoning the treaty meant \u201ckeeping women second class citizens and letting them be killed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ipek Bozkurt of We Will Stop Femicide Platform said women were shocked by the government\u2019s move.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a great campaign against the Istanbul Convention in Turkey last summer. All women\u2019s NGOs, including the ones close to the government, said then it is not possible to discuss anything against the convention,\u201d Bozkurt told Al Jazeera from Istanbul.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt basically lays down the legal grounds for all the national laws to combat violence against women. So it seems like it is a decision that is not inspired by the women and women\u2019s movements in the country,\u201d she said, adding that last year alone, 300 women were killed by men in Turkey.<\/p>\n
The 2011 Istanbul Convention requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting domestic violence and similar abuse, as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.<\/p>\n
Rights groups accuse Erdogan of taking mostly Muslim but officially secular Turkey on an increasingly socially conservative course during his 18 years in power.<\/p>\n
Turkish conservatives claimed the charter damages family unity, encourages divorce and that its references to equality were being used by the LGBTQ community to gain broader acceptance in society.<\/p>\n
After a huge Pride March in Istanbul drew 100,000 people in 2014, the government responded by banning future events in the city, citing security concerns.<\/p>\n
In January this year, Turkish police detained four people after artwork depicting Islam\u2019s holiest site viewed as offensive by Ankara was hung at an Istanbul university at the centre of recent protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turkey has sparked local and international outrage after it withdrew from the world\u2019s first binding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n