Turkey withdraws from Istanbul Convention

Turkey withdrew from a European treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, according to the country’s Official Gazette early Saturday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention that was signed in 2011.

What is the Istanbul Convention?

The Istanbul Convention is the first convention in international law that emphasizes that violence is the result of inequality between women and men and discrimination against women.

The Istanbul Convention is the first convention that includes four basic approaches consisting of “Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Support Policies” on combating all forms of physical, sexual, economic and emotional violence.

The Istanbul Convention is also the first binding convention that has an independent monitoring mechanism to combat violence and has the power of enforcement.

Student Protests at Bogazici University

Students of Istanbul’s Bogazici University defied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appointment of Melih Bulu as their school’s rector for a third day in a row, accompanied by more police officers than the previous demonstrations. Students marched to the ferry docks after a protest on campus, crossed the Bosphorus and joined a crowd of hundreds more in Kadıköy.

Melih Bulu was appointed rector on January 1 by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is a member of his ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP. He was rector of Halic University in Istanbul before assuming his new post.

“We do not want an appointed rector. Melih Bulu is not our rector,” student representatives said in a press statement, demanded his resignation and that of other politically appointed rectors.

“It is not a crime if a rector has a political identity,” Omer Celik, the spokesperson of the AKP, told a press conference on Tuesday.

The first protest, on Monday, was held at the Bogazici University campus. Dozens of students were detained during and after the protest by police.

LGBTI+ students attended the protests with rainbow flags.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started