Turkey will officially withdraw from an international convention that aims to combat domestic violence on July 1, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette.
The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is an international accord designed to protect women’s rights and prevent domestic violence in societies and was signed by member countries of the Council of Europe in 2011.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sparked outrage in Turkey and the international community after he issued a decree on March 20 that pulled the country out of the international treaty, which requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
Violence against women and femicide are serious problems in Turkey, with daily media coverage of the issue.
In 2020, 300 women were murdered, and the rate shows no sign of slowing, with 79 women killed in the first three months of 2021, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.