Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention was immediately denounced by all Council of Europe bodies, which issued a Joint Declaration on Sunday signed by Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the organisation, Heiko Maas, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Committee of Ministers, and Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly. Interviewed by Agence Europe, the latter sees this withdrawal as a “political decision by President Erdoğan designed to unite the conservative forces of his AKP (Justice and Development Party) with the far-right MHP (Nationalist Action Party)”.
“In our Declaration, we recalled that Turkey’s accession to this Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence was adopted unanimously by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 2012. However, it was annulled by a simple presidential decree, although it seems that in Turkey, while the withdrawal from an international treaty can be made by such a decree, this is not the case for a Convention. We are therefore calling for a parliamentary debate in Turkey, and I will raise this issue during my official visit to Ankara, scheduled for 29 March to 1 April”, continued Mr Daems.
By signing up to the Istanbul Convention – “which it was the first to ratify”, says Rik Daems – “Turkey made real progress in the fight against violence against women”. “It is hard to imagine that Turkish society has radically changed its views on this text in less than ten years”. “Even though it was known to be under attack by conservative forces, the timing of this withdrawal – and moreover on Friday night – surprised all the interlocutors of the Council of Europe”.
Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement on Monday 22 March calling on the Turkish authorities to listen to the voices of the women’s rights defenders who have been demonstrating throughout the country and to reconsider their decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.
Voices were also raised within the European Commission and the European Parliament to condemn this decision. On Saturday 20 March, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, took to Twitter to call for Turkey to reverse its decision, expressing regret and incomprehension.
The Chair of the European Parliament’s Women’s Rights Committee, Evelyn Regner, called the news “shocking”, a “step backwards for women’s rights”, and a “threat to all democracies”.
“I support the Istanbul Convention and call on all signatories to ratify it”, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen via social networks.
At present, six Member States and the EU itself have not yet ratified the text (see EUROPE 12609/5). The European Court of Justice has been asked to rule on whether the EU can conclude the Istanbul Convention without the agreement of all Member States. According to the Advocate General of the Court of Justice (see EUROPE 12676/32), this should be possible.
Link to the Council of Europe joint statement: https://bit.ly/3f4epcQ (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc, with Agathe Cherki)