HDP: Council of State’s decision against Istanbul Convention is misogynistic

Earlier today, an appeal for a stay of execution of the Turkish government’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention was denied by the Council of State’s 10th Chamber. The file was then sent to the Board of Administrative Case Chambers, the Council of State’s highest decision-making body, which rejected all objections by a majority of votes. The ruling was justified on the grounds that Article 80 of the convention granted the President, as the executive organ, the authority for termination.

In a written statement released on Thursday, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Women’s Assembly said that the Council of State based its decision on withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention to the constitution and found its abolition within the authority of the President appropriate.

‘Legitimizing femicide’

The statement included the following remarks:

“As the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November approaches, it is not a coincidence that the Council of State made this decision which is an outcome of the government’s misogynistic policies reflected in the judiciary.

With this decision, the Council of State demonstrated once again that the problem is not with women, but with those who commit violence against women and murder women.

This decision should not be taken into account independently from the punishment of self-defence, the exclusion of women from all aspects of life, in short, the government’s misogynistic policies.

Abandoning the Istanbul Convention legitimizes femicide. Women’s life security is jeopardized if the Istanbul Convention is abandoned. For us women, the decision made by your male judiciary and institutions is null and void.

It should be well known that we will not abandon the Istanbul Convention or our women’s struggle. We will not tolerate these attacks on our accomplishments and rights.

We shall continue to voice our resistance in the fields and squares. We will bring back the Istanbul Convention which the government fears and put it into effect again!”