Contributor
A decade after becoming the first signatory to the Council of Europe’s convention preventing violence against women, Turkey is to become the first country to leave it.
In March this year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree withdrawing from the landmark agreement, better known as the Istanbul Convention after the city in which it was signed. The formal exit will come on July 1.
It was a highly symbolic moment when Turkey signed the convention in May 2011, joined by 45 Council of Europe states. The agreement was drawn up in Istanbul to mark Turkey’s presidency of the international human rights body, and it was inspired by the story of a Turkish woman, Nahide Opuz.