Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew Turkey from an international agreement designed to protect women.
The Council of Europe, forged in Istanbul, has undertaken to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence and promote equality. Turkey, which signed the agreement in 2011, had an increase in murders of women last year.
No reason was given for the withdrawal, but officials of the Turkish president’s ruling AK Party said last year that the government was considering pulling out amid a row over how to curb growing violence against women.
“The guarantee of women’s rights is the current regulations in our statutes, mainly our constitution. Our legal system is dynamic and strong enough to apply new regulations as needed, ‘Family, Labor and Social Policy Minister Zehra Zumrut said on Twitter without giving a reason for the move.
Many conservatives in Turkey say the treaty undermines family structures and encourages violence. They are also hostile to the principle of gender equality in the Istanbul Convention and regard it as the promotion of homosexuality, given the principle of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Critics of the withdrawal from the treaty said it would further align Turkey with the values of the European Union, to which it remains a candidate.
They abide by the agreement, and legislation passed in its aftermath must be more strictly enforced.
Turkey is not the first country to want to go in the direction of the agreement. The highest court in Poland has examined the treaty after a cabinet member said Warsaw should end the treaty that the nationalist government considers too liberal.
Erdogan has condemned violence against women and said this month, among other things, that his government will work to eradicate violence against women. But critics say his government has not done enough to prevent homicide and domestic violence.
Turkey does not keep official statistics on genocide. Data from the World Health Organization showed that 38% of women in Turkey are under the violence of a partner in their lifetime, compared to about 25% in Europe.
Ankara has taken measures such as tagging individuals known to use violence and creating a women’s smartphone app to alert police, which has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
Erdoğan’s decision comes after he unveiled judicial reforms this month that he said would improve rights and freedoms and help meet EU standards. Turkey has been a candidate to join the bloc since 2005, but accession talks have been halted over policy differences and Ankara’s record on human rights.