Turkey has abandoned the European policy against rape …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed this Saturday a decree removing the country from the Istanbul Convention, the world’s first binding instrument to prevent and combat gender violence. The measure drew criticism from various sectors.

The Istanbul Convention, in force since 2011, obliges governments to pass laws that punish domestic violence and similar abuses, including marital rape and female genital mutilation.

Turkish conservative sectors allege that the Convention harms the family unit, encourages divorce and that the LGTB community is using its references to equality to gain greater acceptance in society. Indeed, Turkey has debated a possible withdrawal from the convention after a senior official in Erdogan’s party raised the question of abandoning the treaty last year.

Since then, women have demonstrated in Istanbul and other cities, asking the government to respect the Convention, promoted by the European Council. In fact it is a legal instrument common to all Member States of the European Union and to other countries, which clearly establishes what acts should be punished and holds states accountable if they do not respond adequately.

Erdogan’s decision to abandon the Convention has been criticized by the European Commission and by the opposition in his country. Gokce Gokcen, vice-chairman of the main opposition party, CHP, tweeted that leaving the convention meant ‘letting women be killed’. He stressed that “despite you and your evil, we will continue to live and resurrect the agreement.”

Turkey’s constitution and internal regulations are “the guarantee of women’s rights,” said Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services, according to the state news agency. Anatolia. “We will continue our fight against violence with the principle of zero tolerance,” added the official.

For her part, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, said that the abandonment of the agreement “represents a huge setback in these efforts and is all the more regrettable. questions the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyondHe added that this binding agreement “extends to 34 countries and is the gold standard of international efforts to protect women and girls from violence.”

Gender-based violence and femicides remain a serious problem in Turkey, where last year 300 women were killed, according to advocacy group We Will Stop Femicide. The platform calls for a “collective struggle against those who have abandoned the Istanbul Convention” and for a protest rally today in Kadikoy, in the Asian part of Istanbul.