ISTANBUL (Reuters) – American and European leaders denounced what they called Turkey’s baffling and concerned decision to withdraw from an international accord meant to protect women from violence, and urged President Tayyip Erdogan to repeat it. to consider.
Erdogan’s government withdrew from the Istanbul Treaty on Saturday, which it signed in 2011 after being forged in Turkey’s largest city. Turkey said domestic laws, not external solutions, would protect women’s rights.
The Council of Europe agreement promised to prevent, prosecute and eradicate domestic violence and promote equality. The number of murders of women in Turkey has skyrocketed in recent years, and thousands of women protested against government measures in Istanbul and other cities on Saturday.
The United States, Germany, France and the European Union responded with dismay – it was the second time in four days that European leaders have criticized Ankara for rights issues, after a Turkish prosecutor sought to shut down a pro-Kurdish political party.
US President Joe Biden said Turkey’s withdrawal from the accord was “very disappointing” and a step backwards in efforts to end violence against women worldwide.
“Across the world, we are seeing an increase in domestic violence incidents, including reports of rising feminicide in Turkey,” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “Countries should work to strengthen and renew their commitments to end violence against women, not reject international treaties designed to protect women and hold abusers to account.”
Josep Borrell, head of EU foreign policy, said late on Saturday that the decision was incomprehensible and “risks endangering the protection and fundamental rights of women and girls in Turkey (and) sending a dangerous message around the world. spreads. … we therefore cannot help but urge Turkey to reverse its decision. “
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – who spoke with Erdogan a day before Turkey closed the pact – wrote on Twitter on Sunday, “Women deserve a strong legal framework to protect them,” calling on all signatories to adopt it. ratify.
The Council of Europe, which has 47 member states, also regretted the decision.
The convention had divided Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP) and even his family. Officials drifted apart last year amid a dispute over how to curb domestic violence in Turkey, where femicide has tripled in 10 years, a control group said.
But many conservatives in Turkey and Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AKP say the pact undermines family structures and encourages violence. Some are also hostile to its stance against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Originally intended to promote women’s rights, the Istanbul Convention was hijacked by a group of people trying to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with the social and family values of Turkey. Hence the decision to withdraw, ”Fahrettin Altun, the director of the President of Turkey, said in a statement.
Paris said Turkey’s withdrawal marked another setback in respect for human rights, while Berlin said neither culture, religion nor tradition could “serve as an excuse to ignore violence against women.”
The diplomatic tension comes after Europe and the United States said last week that the move to shut down parliament’s third-largest party, the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), undermined democracy in Turkey.
In their video call on Friday, Erdogan, Von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel discussed a cooled off dispute over offshore resources in the Eastern Mediterranean.
This week an EU summit will be on relations with Ankara.
Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Edited by Frances Kerry, Barbara Lewis and Daniel Wallis