‘Withdrawal from İstanbul Convention is contrary to law, decision should be annulled’

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

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After Turkey withdrew from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (İstanbul Convention) by a Presidential decision, several women, women's groups and political parties applied to the Council of State and demanded the annulment of the related decision pulling Turkey out of the Convention.

In the lawsuit filed by lawyer Lalezar Nergiz and 12 women from Aydın's Kuşadası, Council of State's prosecutor Elmas Mucukgil has pronounced her legal opinion as to the matter in dispute.

Mucukgil has submitted her opinion as to the requested annulment of the related Presidential decision to the 10th Chamber of the Council of State on behalf of the Council of State Public Prosecutor's Office. In her opinion dated January 6, Mucukgil has said that the Presidency's decision to withdraw from the Convention is against the law and should be annulled.

In her opinion, Mucukgil has referred to the powers vested in the legislative and executive bodies by the Constitution in enacting international conventions as a law. Against this constitutional backdrop, she has underlined that "the same legal procedure shall be the case in enacting and abolishing an international convention, which was duly brought into force."

She has explained that "as required by the principle of parallelism in procedure, the related law shall be abolished by legislative bodies."

Referring to the "limited powers vested in the Presidency about halting and ending the execution of the provisions of a duly enacted international convention", she has found it "contrary to law" that the İstanbul Convention was abolished by the Presidential decision no. 3817 dtaed March 19, 2021. "For the afore-mentioned reasons, it is considered that the decision in dispute shall be annulled," Prosecutor Elmas Mucukgil has concluded.

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Turkey has withdrawn from the İstanbul Convention with a Presidential decision published in the Official Gazette on March 20, 2021.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