Turkey Leaves International Treaty That Protects Women

Turkey has officially left an international treaty it signed in 2011 that promotes the prevention and prosecution of domestic violence against women and promotes equality.

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, as it is officially known, was negotiated in the Turkish city of Istanbul, and Turkey was the first country to ratify the convention, followed by 34 other countries from 2013 to 2021.

The withdrawal is likely due to the fact that conservatives in Turkey and in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, which has an Islamist base, believe that the agreement undermines the family structure.