The move has sent shockwaves through a country that has been reeling from high-profile domestic violence cases and femicides.
It is unclear why Erdogan made the decision to pull out of the convention. Turkish women’s rights defenders have protested against the withdrawal, while some conservatives argue it harms traditional family values.
The public debate around the convention peaked in August when religious and conservative groups began an intense lobbying effort against the convention, lambasting it for degrading family values and advocating for the LGBTQ community.
Erdogan’s cabinet came out to assure people that the withdrawal from the convention will not mean backsliding on regulations around domestic violence and women’s rights. “The guarantee of women’s rights are present in our current laws and especially in our constitution. Our judicial system is dynamic and strong enough to implement new regulations as needed,” the Family and Social Policies Minister Zehra Zumrut Selcuk said on Twitter.
Turkey’s main opposition called the move an effort to relegate “women to second class citizens,” and vowed to return the country back to the convention, saying the current government failed to secure the rights of women and children. “You are failing to protect the right to life,” said Gokce Gokcen, an opposition parliamentarian on Twitter.
A coalition of women’s groups said the presidential decree withdrawing from the convention felt like a “nightmare” and by pulling out of the convention the government has announced that it will no longer protect women from violence.
“It is obvious this withdrawal will empower murderers, abusers and rapists of women,” the coalition statement said.
Turkey does not have femicide numbers issued separately but a non-governmental women’s right group puts the number of women killed in 2021 at 77.