Legal Criticism on the Withdrawal of Turkey
from the Istanbul Convention
for the Protection of Women against Violence
Assoc. Professor of Law, Ankara University, Faculty of Law, Public International Law Department
(ulkuhalatci@yahoo.com)
Professor of Law, Ankara University, Faculty of Law, Administrative Law Department
(ulusoydlaw@gmail.com)
Turkey’s withdrawal from the international Istanbul Convention aiming to protect women against violence has created important reactions in national and international public opinion. As the Convention is one of the leading legal tools to protect women against violence in the European level and the need of such a protection, in Turkey, does definitely not seem as unrealistic, many observers suffer to justify that withdrawal, which seems to be based more on political rather than rational reasons. In this context, from a technical legal point of view, it can be argued that the decision is substantially unlawful both in the procedural and the substantive sense.
Le retrait de la Turquie de la Convention internationale d’Istanbul visant à protéger les femmes contre la violence a suscité de vives réactions dans l’opinion publique nationale et internationale. Comme la Convention est l’un des principaux instruments juridiques pour protéger les femmes contre la violence au niveau européen et que la nécessité d’une telle protection, en Turquie, ne semble pas irréaliste, de nombreux observateurs ont du mal à justifier ce retrait, qui semble être basé sur des raisons plus politiques que rationnelles. Dans ce contexte, du point de vue de la technique juridique, on peut affirmer que la décision est substantiellement illégale, tant sur le plan de la procédure que sur celui du fond.
