In Turkey, feminists are not giving in: several thousand people demonstrated this Saturday, March 20 across the country against President Erdogan's decision to withdraw from the Con ...

Violence against women: in Turkey, "this government is going in the wrong direction"

Demonstrations in favor of women's rights took place this Saturday, March 20, 2021 in Istanbul.

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

In Turkey, feminists are not giving in: several thousand people demonstrated this Saturday, March 20 across the country against President Erdogan's decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty to fight violence made to women.

A withdrawal which is made while these attacks are on the rise.

Elif Ege is part of the Morcati association which, since the 1990s, has been fighting against this violence.

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Interview by

Paola Guzzo

RFI

: What is the situation in Turkey regarding violence against women?

Elif Ege

Violence against women is a very common problem in Turkey.

The reason is of course this patriarchal mindset, and then all the attacks on the notion of gender equality.

There is also a problem of law enforcement.

Before, national laws were not correctly applied: there is therefore a real phenomenon of resistance to these texts on the part of the police, prosecutors, judges, which means that there is real impunity.

But thanks to international conventions, the women's movement in Turkey is making real progress: for example, we have used the decisions of the International Court of Human Rights.

One of the most important decisions on the fight against violence against women was taken in this context, and by a Turkish woman.

And we have used all of this, including the Istanbul Convention, to change and improve our own national laws.

This is why it is so important for us.

Read also: Turkey leaves the Istanbul Convention which punishes violence against women

Is it really possible for the government to withdraw so easily from this Istanbul treaty

We are still discussing it.

What is certain is that the method used for this withdrawal is really not democratic, because it is a direct order of the president, as it can also be the case in the United States: it is really the one man's decision.

There is therefore a debate on its legality.

So of course, since the president has all the power, I think that's something he can do.

But usually the government chooses not to do it that way, because it would appear undemocratic.

In fact, that's the impression we have today!

But we are still debating how to react to this decision on the legal ground.

This is only one aspect of our resistance: we will also continue to take to the streets - with two demonstrations this Saturday in Istanbul, and elsewhere in Turkey, even in small towns.

I think it will continue: we are going to have a lot of demonstrations, feminists will be in the streets.

And we will continue to monitor and act as the situation evolves.

How has Turkish society evolved on these issues in recent years

On the one hand, we have this government which is in fact going in the wrong direction, which is trying to take away the rights that we have acquired;

and on the other, we have this society, these women who are aware of the problem of gender inequality, who become feminists, who fight against male domination ... Their number is increasing every year.

Take "The Feminists' Night March", it's something that takes place every March 8th in Istanbul.

And every year we have more people participating in this event, even though there is the danger of police violence.

In fact, it is something that we see a lot, especially on social networks: there are many young women who join the movement, who become aware of their rights;

but on the other side, you have these very misogynistic, very sexist attacks from the government.

Violence against women: in Turkey, "this government is going in the wrong direction"

Violence against women: in Turkey, "this government is going in the wrong direction"

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