Domestic Violence Treaty: Turkish Women Protest Erdogan’s Exit

Turkey has reversed its decision to withdraw from an international treaty against domestic abuse which it once championed and this move has brought several thousand women to the streets in Istanbul on Saturday to demand a rescind in the decision.

President Tayyip Erdogan stunned European allies with last week’s announcement that Turkey was pulling out of the Istanbul Convention, named after the Turkish city where it was drafted in 2011.

Turkey was one of the first signatories and women say their safety has been jeopardised by Erdogan’s move against the European treaty.

World Health Organization data shows 38% of women in Turkey are subject to violence from a partner in their lifetime, compared with 25% in Europe.

Estimates of femicide rates in Turkey, for which there are no official figures, have roughly tripled over the last 10 years, according to a monitoring group. So far this year 87 women have been murdered by men or died under suspicious circumstances, it said.

Conservatives in Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party say the convention, which stresses gender equality and forbids discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, undermines family structures and encourages violence.