Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention: A threshold we better not cross
April09,2021
By Özlem Altıok
(originally published on Forum EU on April 9, 2021.)
In an unprecedented move, Turkey has announced that it is withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. This move violates not only women’s human rights, but also the rule of law and the most basic principles of democracy.
The attempt to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention is unlawful.
The Turkish President’s Decision, published in the Official Gazette at two o’clock in the morning on March 20, 2021, violates Turkey’s own laws and Constitution. It is against Turkey’s laws because Turkey’s Parliament unanimously ratified the Convention in 2012, and it is Parliament, not the President, that has the authority to make the decision to withdraw.
This is why the Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey, representing over 300 women’s and LGBTI+ organizations, declared this decision null and void, and called on the Council of Europe to investigate the legality of Turkey’s action. Bar associations in Turkey have also decried the illegality of the President’s Decision, taking legal action, along with other organizations, in the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court.
Constitutional experts state unequivocally that the President’s Decision is unconstitutional. Nevertheless, given that the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive is severely compromised, it is unclear what the outcome of the applications to the Council of State – or a likely case brought to Turkey’s Constitutional Court – will be. Should domestic institutions fail to overturn the Presidential Decision, the case will likely be brought to the European Court of Human Rights.
In a country where at least three women are murdered every day, attempting to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention is wrong.
Even if the Decision to withdraw were lawful, it is, of course, still wrong in a country where at least three women are murdered every day. These crimes can be described as femicides or feminicides, both of which terms refer to the violent death of women based on gender whether it occurs within the family, a domestic partnership, or any other interpersonal relationship; in the community, by any person, or when it is perpetrated or tolerated by the state or its agents, by action or omission.
As horrifying as the rapes, stabbings, bludgeonings to death with iron pipes, beheadings, and burnings of women are, they are, sadly, the tip of the iceberg. Femicides occupy the extreme end of the spectrum of gender-based violence. Women and LGBTQI+ people suffer sexual, physical, economic and psychological violence of various degrees, every day. Some survive, escape, and try against all odds to rebuild their lives. Millions more endure systematic violence, amounting to torture. Then there are femicides.
The Istanbul Convention’s significance stems from signatories’ obligation to observe the “four P’s”: prevent to all forms of violence against women (VAW) and domestic violence; protect survivors; prosecute perpetrators; and adopt integrated policies. The Convention draws on a key feminist insight: promoting equality between men and women is key to violence-free societies. Unfortunately, those ruling Turkey do not believe in the equality of men and men.
According to Prof. Feride Acar, announcing withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention encourages perpetrators of violence. Acar, the founding president of GREVIO, the expert body tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention, made this statement at a March 23 meeting organized in conjunction with the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. At the same meeting, feminist lawyer Hülya Gülbahar explained that the withdrawal from the Convention is not just about violence against women or women’s rights, but also a matter of human rights and democracy.
Turkey’s withdrawal from the Convention would have dire consequences beyond borders.
The Istanbul Convention is an international treaty concerning fundamental human rights, including the most fundamental: the right to live. On what grounds was Turkey’s unprecedented move to withdraw from a human rights treaty taken? Per the statement by Turkey’s Communication Directorate:
“The Istanbul Convention, originally intended to promote women’s rights, was hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values.”
This is terrifying.
The same pretext may be used for withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention against Torture, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Lanzarote Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
In addition to its implications for international law and the future of multilateralism, Turkey’s decision will have political ramifications across Europe. Turkey is not the only country juxtaposing vague notions of “social and family values” to the Convention’s concrete steps to ensure that women and LGBTQI+ people live free from violence. Since Turkey and Poland’s first statements about possible withdrawal from the Convention, feminists have been gathering virtually, and acting in solidarity across borders. At a meeting convening nearly 200 women from 15 countries last October, they compared the arguments against the Convention in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria only to find that they are more or less the same.
And yet, Turkey’s President, with eager support from the speaker of its bypassed parliament, announced withdrawal from the Convention, pandering to the most marginal segments of society in a bid to retain power. Bulgaria’s recent elections, where ultranationalist, misogynist, and anti-Istanbul Convention parties suffered a significant defeat, suggest that they may be betting on the wrong horse.
What is to be done?
Women’s and LGBTQI+ organizations such as the Women’s Platform for Equality – or ESIK, which means “threshold” in Turkish – insist that the decision to withdraw from the Convention is null and void. The Council of Europe and the European Union have expressed their deep concerns. However, it is clear that they – and the Venice Commission – also need to conduct a legal analysis of Turkey’s move, and use every political tool they can to reverse this decision.
This is a new threshold best left uncrossed.
~
Özlem Altıok is a feminist sociologist who teaches Women’s & Gender Studies, and International Studies at the University of North Texas. She studies social movements, as well as the entanglements of politics, religion, and gender across borders. She is also a women’s rights, peace, and environmental activist and a member of EŞİTİZ – Equality Watch Women’s Group and EŞİK – Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey.
*This piece was originally published on Forum EU on April 9, 2021.
Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention: A threshold we better not cross
By Özlem Altıok
(originally published on Forum EU on April 9, 2021.)
In an unprecedented move, Turkey has announced that it is withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. This move violates not only women’s human rights, but also the rule of law and the most basic principles of democracy.
The attempt to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention is unlawful.
The Turkish President’s Decision, published in the Official Gazette at two o’clock in the morning on March 20, 2021, violates Turkey’s own laws and Constitution. It is against Turkey’s laws because Turkey’s Parliament unanimously ratified the Convention in 2012, and it is Parliament, not the President, that has the authority to make the decision to withdraw.
This is why the Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey, representing over 300 women’s and LGBTI+ organizations, declared this decision null and void, and called on the Council of Europe to investigate the legality of Turkey’s action. Bar associations in Turkey have also decried the illegality of the President’s Decision, taking legal action, along with other organizations, in the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court.
Constitutional experts state unequivocally that the President’s Decision is unconstitutional. Nevertheless, given that the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive is severely compromised, it is unclear what the outcome of the applications to the Council of State – or a likely case brought to Turkey’s Constitutional Court – will be. Should domestic institutions fail to overturn the Presidential Decision, the case will likely be brought to the European Court of Human Rights.
In a country where at least three women are murdered every day, attempting to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention is wrong.
Even if the Decision to withdraw were lawful, it is, of course, still wrong in a country where at least three women are murdered every day. These crimes can be described as femicides or feminicides, both of which terms refer to the violent death of women based on gender whether it occurs within the family, a domestic partnership, or any other interpersonal relationship; in the community, by any person, or when it is perpetrated or tolerated by the state or its agents, by action or omission.
As horrifying as the rapes, stabbings, bludgeonings to death with iron pipes, beheadings, and burnings of women are, they are, sadly, the tip of the iceberg. Femicides occupy the extreme end of the spectrum of gender-based violence. Women and LGBTQI+ people suffer sexual, physical, economic and psychological violence of various degrees, every day. Some survive, escape, and try against all odds to rebuild their lives. Millions more endure systematic violence, amounting to torture. Then there are femicides.
The Istanbul Convention’s significance stems from signatories’ obligation to observe the “four P’s”: prevent to all forms of violence against women (VAW) and domestic violence; protect survivors; prosecute perpetrators; and adopt integrated policies. The Convention draws on a key feminist insight: promoting equality between men and women is key to violence-free societies. Unfortunately, those ruling Turkey do not believe in the equality of men and men.
According to Prof. Feride Acar, announcing withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention encourages perpetrators of violence. Acar, the founding president of GREVIO, the expert body tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention, made this statement at a March 23 meeting organized in conjunction with the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. At the same meeting, feminist lawyer Hülya Gülbahar explained that the withdrawal from the Convention is not just about violence against women or women’s rights, but also a matter of human rights and democracy.
Turkey’s withdrawal from the Convention would have dire consequences beyond borders.
The Istanbul Convention is an international treaty concerning fundamental human rights, including the most fundamental: the right to live. On what grounds was Turkey’s unprecedented move to withdraw from a human rights treaty taken? Per the statement by Turkey’s Communication Directorate:
“The Istanbul Convention, originally intended to promote women’s rights, was hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values.”
This is terrifying.
The same pretext may be used for withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention against Torture, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Lanzarote Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
In addition to its implications for international law and the future of multilateralism, Turkey’s decision will have political ramifications across Europe. Turkey is not the only country juxtaposing vague notions of “social and family values” to the Convention’s concrete steps to ensure that women and LGBTQI+ people live free from violence. Since Turkey and Poland’s first statements about possible withdrawal from the Convention, feminists have been gathering virtually, and acting in solidarity across borders. At a meeting convening nearly 200 women from 15 countries last October, they compared the arguments against the Convention in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria only to find that they are more or less the same.
In eastern Europe, a coalition of right-wing, ultra-nationalist politicians and the Catholic Church – funded by US-based groups with anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQI+ agendas – attack the Convention, arguing that “gender ideology” undermines the “traditional family” and “traditional values.” They argue that the inclusion of “gender” in legal and education systems would pave the way to the adoption of children by LGBTQI+ people. In Turkey, similarly, the coalition includes Erdogan’s ruling party, ultra-nationalists, Islamist parties such as Felicity Party and some extremist religious networks.
Unable to manage the political and economic problems in their countries, right-wing and increasingly authoritarian governments use a variety of tools to suppress and vilify the opposition, including, notably, women’s and feminist organizations. It is important to note that opponents of the Istanbul Convention are marginal groups, making up only 7% of the population in Turkey, and 12% in Poland. By contrast, women’s organizations enjoy widespread support in Turkey, and 84% of the general population think that ensuring equality between men and women is among the state’s primary responsibilities.
And yet, Turkey’s President, with eager support from the speaker of its bypassed parliament, announced withdrawal from the Convention, pandering to the most marginal segments of society in a bid to retain power. Bulgaria’s recent elections, where ultranationalist, misogynist, and anti-Istanbul Convention parties suffered a significant defeat, suggest that they may be betting on the wrong horse.
What is to be done?
Women’s and LGBTQI+ organizations such as the Women’s Platform for Equality – or ESIK, which means “threshold” in Turkish – insist that the decision to withdraw from the Convention is null and void. The Council of Europe and the European Union have expressed their deep concerns. However, it is clear that they – and the Venice Commission – also need to conduct a legal analysis of Turkey’s move, and use every political tool they can to reverse this decision.
This is a new threshold best left uncrossed.
~
Özlem Altıok is a feminist sociologist who teaches Women’s & Gender Studies, and International Studies at the University of North Texas. She studies social movements, as well as the entanglements of politics, religion, and gender across borders. She is also a women’s rights, peace, and environmental activist and a member of EŞİTİZ – Equality Watch Women’s Group and EŞİK – Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey.
*This piece was originally published on Forum EU on April 9, 2021.