Conservatives had claimed that the Charter harms family unity, encouraged divorce, and their own references to equality are being used by the LGBT community to gain wider acceptance in society.
Turkey has pulled out of the world’s first binding treaty to prevent and combat violence against women, a presidential decree said on March 19 in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest victory for conservatives in the ruling party.
The 2011 Istanbul Convention required governments to adopt laws prosecuting domestic violence and similar abuse, as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
Conservatives had claimed that the Charter harms family unity, encouraged divorce, and their own references to equality are being used by the LGBT community to gain wider acceptance in society.
The opposition CHP party criticized the move.
Goksey Goksen, the CHP’s vice president responsible for human rights, tweeted that abandoning the treaty meant “keeping women second-class citizens and killing them.”
Turkey was debating a possible departure after an official from Mr Erdogan’s party left the treaty last year.
Since then, women have taken to the streets in Istanbul and other cities to call on the government to attend the conference.
Instead of Turkey’s constitution and domestic rules, “women’s rights will be guaranteed” according to Zahr Zamrut Selkuk, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services, official Anadolu News agency.
Domestic violence and feminism is a serious problem in Turkey.
Last year, 300 women were murdered, according to the rights group We Will Stop Famous Platform.
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