At the middle of the night, women and LGBTI+’s right to life has suffered a great blow.
Turkey has announced its withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention by a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette. This decision is an attack on our achievements to date and our lives.
Turkey was the first signatory of the Istanbul Convention, which was opened for signature in 2011 and unanimously accepted later by the Turkish Parliament. The Convention is now being abandoned with the signature of a single individual, neglecting the feminist & women’s movements, and all the women who put tremendous effort for its ratification and implementation. We will not allow our struggle to be ignored and achievements to be overlooked!
Withdrawing from this convention that aims to prevent all forms of violence against women and LGBTI+ leaves us vulnerable and precarious in the face of male violence and encourages men who commit violence by opening the door for impunity for these crimes. Withdrawal from the convention is to be complicit with the male violence against women and femicides!
We will continue demanding the fulfillment of Turkey’s obligations under the Istanbul Convention. On this day as our will and rights are being neglected, we are repeating once again louder and stronger that we will continue our fight against the male and state violence towards women. We will not be held back from our struggle and solidarity by any authoritarian power. We are not giving up on the Istanbul Convention!
Long live the feminist struggle!
Long live women’s solidarity!
