7 October, 2024

TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TURKEY

Dear Chairperson of the Grand National Assembly,

We are writing this letter, which is also open to the public, to urge you to make a call to all parties with groups in the parliament for the re-sign of the Istanbul Convention.

As you may know, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, namely Istanbul Convention, was signed and entered into force by the Republic of Turkey on 24 November 2011 as a result of the organised struggle of women.

The Istanbul Convention is the most important convention ever written in terms of protecting women from violence and opening up gender-based value judgement to criticism.

It was the organised struggle of women that wrote this convention. Although the Istanbul Convention was not implemented sufficiently in our country after it was signed, still it was a great source of strength for women and the women’s struggle in regard to legal and social point of view. However, the Istanbul Convention was unfortunately abolished on 20 March 2021 with the signature of the President of the Republic of Turkey.

The sudden abolishment of the Istanbul Convention has created a highly problematic approach in terms of public perception. The increasing discrimination and gradual hardening of both the language of the state and the understanding that pervades the society against women led to an increase in violence against women.

As you may know, violence against women and femicide have increased dramatically since the abolition of the Istanbul Convention.

Finally, the recent sexual assault of a woman in the street in Istanbul and, unfortunately, the brutal murder of two women by a man have caused great outrage among women.

We feel unprotected. We feel it necessary to make this call to you in these days when we realise  more accurately how much we need the spirit and implementation of the Istanbul Convention.

Mr. Chairperson of the Parliament; Although the Republic of Turkey has signed the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women), unfortunately we cannot see the spirit and implementation of this Convention. Discrimination against women, violence against women and femicides are happening everywhere.

Therefore, we believe it is imperative to re-sign the Istanbul Convention.

In conclusion, as women human rights defenders, we believe that you have a great duty as the chairperson of the parliament. In these days of increasing violence against women, we urge you to call on the political parties in the Parliament to discuss and then open for signature the re-signing of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention.

We hope you will respond to this request.

Best regards,

Human Rights Association

Central Commission for Women