8 bar associations condemn Erdoğan over his remarks targeting İstanbul Convention

"We will have the İstanbul Convention enforced" (Photo: csgorselarsiv / Dilara Açıkgöz)

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The women's rights centers of eight bar associations have released a joint statement about the remarks of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who targeted the İstanbul Convention as well as the ones defending the convention in his speech following the Presidential cabinet meeting on November 8, 2021.

Underlining that Erdoğan tries to criminalize the İstanbul Convention and the ones who defend it, the bar associations have recalled that the current President was in power when the convention was signed in 2011.

However, Turkey has withdrawn from the the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, or the İstanbul Convention, by a Presidential decision which was published in the Official Gazette on March 20, 2021.

Since July 1, the withdrawal has been final.

'We don't recognize Erdoğan's words'

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the women's rights centers of the bar associations have said, "The decision to withdraw from the İstanbul Convention in an unlawful manner, again by himself with his own statement, is a violation of legal security, the respect for acquired rights in the field of human rights and the principle of parallelism in procedure."

The women's rights centers have reminded the public that "no ruling has been given as to the merits" in the lawsuits seeking the annulment of the decision pulling Turkey out of the İstanbul Convention.

Noting that Erdoğan's remarks "do not recognize the rights of women and criminalize them", the centers have "reminded the President of Constitutional Court President Zühtü Arslan's emphasis on 'independent and impartial' courts in a statement made on the same day."

As recalled in the joint statement, the top court president Arslan addressed the participants of the Symposium on the Presumption of Innocence and Right to Good Reputation in the capital city of Ankara earlier in the day and warned that "no one, under any circumstances, could give orders or instructions to courts or make recommendations or suggestions."

Accordingly, the bar associations, in their joint statement, have "made a call for putting an end to these statements aimed at putting pressure on the women requesting legal assistance within the scope of the İstanbul Convention and casting a shadow on the independence of courts."

They have stressed: "The İstanbul Convention is a policy paper, a roadmap, women's live savior. Just as we, women, will keep up the legal struggle to keep the İstanbul Convention alive, we do not recognize President Erdoğan's words and reiterate that 'İstanbul Convention saves lives'."

The undersigned:

• Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Batman Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Bingöl Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Van Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Mardin Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Muş Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Şırnak Bar Association Women's Rights Center
• Urfa Bar Association Women's Rights Center

What happened?

Speaking after the cabinet meeting on November 8, President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at Lütfü Türkkan from opposition İYİ Party, who has recently resigned from office as the Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair amid huge backlash over the swearwords he uttered for a citizen.

Targeting women's organizations, Erdoğan said:

"I am calling out to the women's NGOs from here. You, women's NGO, what do you do? Will you rise up only when a female, a woman from your organization is sworn at and insulted? Why don't you take up to the streets when the sister of a martyr of ours is sworn at and insulted? I wonder for how long you will keep on ignoring the attack on the sister of our martyr.

"Whoever utters a sentence starting with İstanbul Convention in this country, our women must first show the strongest reaction against them."

Withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention

Turkey has withdrawn from the İstanbul Convention with a Presidential decision published in the Official Gazette on March 20, 2021.

The decision in question said that "the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, which was signed by Turkey on May 11, 2011 and approved with the Cabinet Decree no. 2012/2816 on February 10, 2012, shall be terminated on the part of Turkey as per the Article 3 of the Presidential Decree no. 9."

The 10th Chamber of the Council of State finalized the court cases demanding the stay of execution and annulment of the Presidential decision withdrawing Turkey from the İstanbul Convention ahead of July 1, when the İstanbul Convention will no longer be in force in Turkey, according to the Article 80 of the Convention regarding denunciation.

By a vote of three to two, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State has rejected the requests for the stay of execution and annulment of the Presidential decision, which has pulled Turkey out of the İstanbul Convention, or the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. (TP/SD)