‘İstanbul Convention is our red line, it will stay, you will go’

* Photos: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Women's Branch Chair Aylin Nazlıaka held a statement for the press at the party headquarters in the capital city of Ankara yesterday (August 12). In her simultaneous statement with 81 provincial women's branches across Turkey, Nazlıaka has reiterated that "the İstanbul Convention is women's red line."

"There are systematic attacks targeting the İstanbul Convention," Nazlıaka has said, adding that "there is an attempt to take away all the rights that women have acquired since the establishment of the Republic all at once."

"Unfortunately, women's rights have long been existing solely on paper in our country," she has protested further.

"We, women, want to enjoy the rights that we have acquired in all areas of life," Nazlıaka has said, briefly adding the following:

'If the convention was fully implemented...'

"Like it was not enough that the male-dominated government usurped our acquired rights, it now wants to completely abolish these rights.

"If the İstanbul Convention had been fully implemented, our several sisters would be alive today, they would not be subjected to psychological violence and would not take their own lives.

"The İstanbul Convention is an international legal document that covers what the state is obliged to do against violence targeting women and girls. It is a legal document that foresees gender equality and aims to end violence against women on the street and inside the home.

"The Republic of Turkey is obligated to fulfill the provisions of the convention that it has signed and become a party to.

'Convention has no word of divorce'

"The Convention does not refer to rules against any religion or culture. It aims at protecting all women from violence.

"In Turkey, divorces are caused by domestic violence and disputes. Similarly, contrary to what some people allege, the İstanbul Convention does not have even a single line that mentions or implies divorce.

"Men are not troubled with the İstanbul Convention; the men who inflict violence on their spouses, partners or female strangers, the men who massacre, harass and rape women are troubled with the convention. This convention exists to ensure that women have the same rights with men.

"Our struggle against this male-dominated mentality that wants to do away with democracy and has started a war against Republican values will continue and, in the end, we will be the winners of this struggle.

"The rights foreseen by the İstanbul Convention are the most basic human rights. And human rights can in no way be opened to debate.

"We, as the CHP Women's Branch, will defend the rights of all women, go from street to street, share the problems and sorrows of women and we will never take a step back from our rights.

"In our country where a woman is killed almost everyday and women are subjected to harassment, rape or different forms of violence, the İstanbul Convention is our red line. We will make their seats unbearable for those who cross this line and want to abolish the convention.

"Struggle, labor and determination are ours. We are one of every two people. İstanbul Convention will stay, you will go away." (AÖ/SD)