​​​​​​​Turkey seeks to abolish the Istanbul agreement, what does it aim at?

Violence against women is a flagrant violation of human rights, as more than 70% of women suffer from violence in their lives, that mean one out of every three women in the world are exposed to violence in all its forms. According to a statistic published by the United Nations, and this results discrimination against women in law and practice, as well as on the continuation of the gender inequality approach.

In the recent period, it has been observed that the number of murders and sexual and psychological assault against women has increased in all countries, especially the Turkish state, in addition to a decline in the freedom index. It is now ranked second among the most deteriorating countries in the world during the ten years Last.

The question is, what is the risk that women pose in order to receive all this abuse from the dominant male authority? And why is the phenomenon of femicide being ignored there? Does the Istanbul Agreement need to amend its laws to actually activate it?

The Council of Europe, that is based in Strasbourg, adopted the "Istanbul Agreement" in 2011, which is the first supranational mechanism to set legally binding standards aimed at preventing violence against women. Turkey signed it under the ruling of the Justice and Development Party. Parliament must vote on it by all of its representatives (550 deputies at the time), now, the party itself is seeking to withdraw from the agreement under the pretext that it does not fit the religion and custom in Turkey.

But ... what was concluded was ink on paper. What is happening in daily life in Turkey makes it clear that the provisions of the Istanbul Agreement and protection measures for women are not applied. What is happening now proves this. According to statistics, about 124 women were killed within the first six months of this year in Turkey. In June alone, 27 women were killed, while in July, 36 women were killed by men.

Of course, the Justice and Development government headed by Erdogan refuse to implement it, first because this agreement means allowing men to use violence against women, under the protection of the government, at a time when it is required to define rights, equality and non-discrimination between the sexes.

This women's movement comes amid an increase in domestic violence cases in Turkey over the past few months, with the increasing talk of AKP officials about the idea of withdrawing from the Istanbul Agreement, which caused angry reactions from associations and organizations concerned with women's rights.

The call to withdraw from the agreement was further compounded by the fact that it coincided with the heinous murder of a 27-year-old university girl named Pinar Gultekin in Turkey, which sparked intense anger on social media, and stirred a strong call to implement the Istanbul Agreement.

Not only that, but many Turkish media outlets reported, early last January, news of the preparations by the ruling regime to present the draft law "marrying the rapist", which was met with strong rejection, especially by the human rights platforms and organizations concerned with the rights of women and children.

The aforementioned bill allows men rappers accused of raping girls under the age of 18 to avoid punishment if they marry their victims.

The bill sparked a lot of controversy and anger among human rights groups and women's organizations, which say it legalizes rape, while the government insists that it aims to address the widespread phenomenon of child marriage.

Therefore, the fact that the convention is not allowed to be implemented clarifies the authorities ’exemption from protecting women from domestic and domestic violence.

If we look into all these analyzes, we conclude that the goal of all these actions is Turkey's unwillingness to give up its authority. If women reach their freedom, it will be for Turkey to give up power, because organized women run society rationally, and this raise concerns in Erdogan.

We can prove this through the campaigns of arrests against women in Turkey and Bakûr Kurdistan of the women in feminist movements and journalists.

Therefore, violence and discrimination against women can only be avoided if justice and the authorities properly implement the agreement.

How can violence be avoided and gender equality defined?

Without a doubt, if the situation continues as it is today in Turkey, they can organize widespread protests, refusing to abolish this agreement and the laws of punishment against criminals, then it will turn into a real disaster, not only in Turkey, but worldwide.

So .. to avoid these disasters, some solutions can be proposed, namely, a change in the mentality of the man himself, and what he must do to stand up to the violence against women?

Given what we are going through, it requires a change in the cultural view of society and men as well as the wrong religious legislation that reinforces the distinction of males from females because discrimination and inequality do not threaten economic rights and social issues, but it  all forms of rights. Therefore, it is necessary for the man to return to himself in order to rid society of its wrong path that violates women.

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ANHA