AKSHATA SATLURI
Image Courtesy: BBC
Women, all across the political spectrum have spoken up in response [AS(J1] to President Recep Tayyip Ergodan’s issuance of a decree on 20th March 2021 that officially annulled Turkey's ratification status of the Istanbul Convention on violence against women. While some women are overwhelmingly in favour of the decision, others have taken to the streets of Turkey to protest for their inclusion.
The decree has taken Turkey by storm amidst observed patterns of conservatism that have swept Turkey since President Erdogan came into power in 2003. The Istanbul Convention, which ironically took place in Turkey’s ex-capital in 2011, is a legally binding treaty that includes 34 European countries and came into effect in 2014. It is a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe that details policies to reduce domestic violence, sexual discrimination, sexual assault, and other forms of direct and indirect violence against women. It also aims to end legal impunity for the perpetrators of such violence.
After being the first state to ratify the Istanbul Convention, President Erdogan exhibited pride in Turkey, leading the movement for gender equality. He even went as far as to commend his daughter, Sumeyye Erdogan, the Vice-Chair of the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM), for KADEM’s excellent contribution to the progress of Turkish society.
Opposition to the withdrawal
President Erdogan’s decision to nullify Turkey’s ratification of the treaty comes at a time when high rates of domestic violence and femicide in the nation have been receiving international attention. Moreover, political analysts across the globe have condemned the President’s decree as unconstitutional as the international convention had been ratified by the Parliament and not by the President's office. Opposing political parties have deemed the move as a ploy by President Erdogan’s AK Party to gradually reduce the legal status afforded to women in order to reinstate patriarchal state policies that were in place before Mustafa Kemal Ataturk modernised and secularised Turkish polity. A majority of the resistance to this change in policy has stemmed from ideas of female empowerment, strongly supplemented by narratives from the West. Women are concerned that their abusers will be empowered by their newly reinstated impunity. The Istanbul Convention itself only marginally increased the quality of women’s lives in Turkey, but now these women are afraid that they do not have any legal recourse to combat their assailants. Popular Turkish personalities such as author Elif Shafak have taken to social media to resist the President’s decree.
Support for the withdrawal
Conservatives in Turkey have, however, risen in praise for the decisive and bold move. They believe that the ratification of the convention went against traditional Turkish values, and so these sceptics of the convention have rejoiced the acceptance of their ideas into mainstream Turkish politics. Additionally, the strong cultural aversion to divorce led conservatives to be reluctant in accepting the convention as suitable for Turkey. The importance of family, gender roles in society, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments form a large part of Turkish identity to the conservatives, and so the nullification has come as a relief. In addition, a significant strand of discourse revolves around the slippery slope argument that instituting legislation that protects discrimination regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity may inadvertently lead to a push for the legalisation of gay marriage.
High-profile politicians such as Fahrettin Altun (President Erdogan’s spokesperson) have come forward with their support for the withdrawal stating that the intended policies aimed at protecting women from domestic violence had been overridden by radical agendas to normalise homosexuality and other values that were largely incompatible with Turkey’s traditional family values. Another prominent public figure that voiced his anti-LGBTQ+ opinions was Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. The protestors were particularly shaken by the transparency with which these high-ranking politicians projected their vehemence towards already marginalised communities.
The official position on the withdrawal
In order to appease the protesters whilst maintaining popular support from the conservatives, President Erdogan’s cabinet has reassured people that Turkey’s withdrawal from the convention does not imply any reversal of domestic policies that have been implemented against domestic violence. They have reiterated their belief in the power of the judicial system and the comprehensive nature of the constitutional provisions that protect women.
President Erdogan's office has also introduced the idea of a future Ankara Convention that will be based on the principles of respect for women, priority of family, and other traditional values that form the fabric of Turkish society. Conservatives herald this convention as the way forward for Turkey to integrate itself into the modern world. On the other hand, feminists and supporters of the Istanbul Convention cannot help but voice their disappointment with the constant references to “customs”, “traditions”, and “values”, which effectively denigrate women to second-class citizens. It is these references to customs that make it difficult for women to utilise any domestic legal recourses to report violence.
In contrast to the AK Party supporters’ characterisation of the nullification as bold and decisive, protestors deem that they see through the AKP’s politics. In recent years the Islamist AK Party has voiced increasingly traditionalist and conservative arguments. While this indicates a shift towards increasingly right-wing politics, the change can also be understood as an effect of the AKP’s weakened position within Turkish politics. In recent years, the AKP has increasingly succumbed to the demands of hardliner politicians as well as to the demands of the opposing party, the Felicity Party, in order to maintain their majority in government.
Additionally, the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) has not been successful in convincing the outraged population that reform is on its way. Their initial support for the Istanbul Convention and pioneering of the feminist movement in Turkey has morphed in tandem with the changes in the AK Party’s increasingly conservative agenda. While they celebrated the treaty's ratification as a harbinger of progress in 2011, they have now released a statement that supports Turkey’s withdrawal. Citing “societal tensions” as their reason to support the nullification, KADEM has proven to be an unreliable ally to the feminists in Turkey.
Patterns of conservatism in Turkish policies
Turkey has consistently performed poorly on indices measuring female well-being and crime against women. President Erdogan has veered away from the secular state instituted by his predecessor Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan’s policies have marked a remarkable shift towards traditional ideas of motherhood, family, religiosity, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. The President has strongly condemned feminist movements, stating that they act against the values of the nation. In addition to poor indicators of female well-being, Turkey has also reported a sharp decline in freedom of media, which further marginalises women’s movements as they are unable to spread awareness for their cause.
President Erdogan’s sudden withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, therefore, does not come as a surprise. In a political climate where the AK Party must make significant concessions to remain in power, and when those concessions are in accordance with the leader’s personal ideology, it is not difficult to see why Turkey has taken its current course of development.
Whether or not the wave of conservatism in Turkey will ebb after the Presidential election in 2023 is a matter of interest. This will strongly indicate whether Turkey sways to the tune of its Presidents- as we see with President Erdogan and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk before him- or if it is the majority that dictates policies. The strength of democratic political institutions and civic engagement with politics will be displayed in the coming years as Turkey grapples with the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention and possibly with the creation of the Ankara Convention.
The views expressed and suggestions made in the articles are solely of the authors in their personal capacity and the Center for Middle East Studies and O.P. Jindal Global University do not endorse the same.