Violence Against Women in Turkey: An Analysis of the Issue through Turkey’s Engagement and Withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention

The Istanbul Convention (2011) which refers to “gender equality”, signed under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, constitutes the object of this study. From 2020, the AKP government and its main political and civil society allies defended Turkey’s withdrawal from the convention and then ensured this withdrawal by a presidential decree on March 20, 2021, referring to “the protection of the family”. Through various means, the political opposition as well as that of civil society, particularly feminist organizations, have clearly expressed the misfortune that a possible withdrawal from the convention would cause women, denouncing patriarchal values as being decisive in the approach of power. Emphasizing that in 2015 the government began an anti-LGBT policy within the framework of the protection of cultural and family values, the opposition claims that by its use of the notion of gender equality, the convention supports and LGBT individuals. That said, gender equality is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015), that the government as well as political parties, NGOs, public and private sectors aim to achieve through various means. I propose a study on the issue of violence against women through Turkey’s commitment to and withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. Given the reactions of the pro- and anti-convention parties, this issue fundamentally societal appears to be a political issue where different ideologies clash once again. Has violence against women decreased with the Istanbul Convention or increased after the withdrawal of the convention? What are the arguments presented by both parties regarding this withdrawal, their approaches to the issue of violence against women, and the solutions presented to it. In addition to a documentary analysis, interviews will be conducted with political and NGO figures representing the pro- and anti-convention parties to answer the research question.