Turkish court says Erdogan has the right to terminate the women’s contract

Turkey’s top court on Tuesday ruled that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has the right to withdraw his country from a European convention against gender-based violence.

Right-wing groups and Western governments expressed shock and outrage when Erdogan last year withdrew Turkey’s membership of the Istanbul Convention in a decree issued overnight.

Erdogan’s political opponents have argued that the president does not have the power to unilaterally revoke membership of any international agreement.

Turkey was the first country to sign the convention in 2011 and ratified it by vote in parliament the following year.

But the Supreme Administrative Court on Tuesday rejected a request to overturn Erdogan’s decision in a case involving testimonies from leading women’s rights groups and legal scholars.

The court’s five justices ruled by a vote of 3-2 that a President’s decision could not be subject to judicial review.

The two dissenting judges said in a dissenting opinion that Erdogan’s actions had exceeded the legal limits.

A lawyer representing rights organization We Will Stop Femicide Platform said the ruling was “tantamount to rejecting the Constitution”.

“From a legal perspective, it’s appalling,” attorney Ipek Bozkurt told AFP. “This wrong decision should have been stopped by the court.”

The treaty – which has now been adopted by dozens of European countries – requires member states to enact national laws that severely punish domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

But Erdogan’s Islamic conservative supporters have argued that his language harms traditional family values ​​and promotes LGBTQ rights.

Erdogan’s main opponents in next year’s parliamentary elections immediately rose to defend the treaty.

The main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, vowed to reinstate Turkey in the convention should he become president in the July 2023 vote.

“I can make a promise to the nation,” said the CHP party leader.

“When we come to power – and we will, with God’s permission and the nation’s consent – we will implement the Istanbul Convention in the first week, even in the first 24 hours,” Kilicdaroglu told reporters.

Meral Aksener, leader of the nationalist Iyi (good) party, accused the court of making “a political decision designed to please a filthy spirit”.