After Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, it is necessary to see how disingenuous the reactions from some of the member states of the Council of Europe and the USA were. Because Turkey is not the first country to withdraw from the contract, I guess it will not be the last. By skillfully placing the concepts of "sexual orientation, sexual partner, gender equality and so-called honor" into the prevention of violence against women, the public opinion was formed for countries to sign, and the government in Turkey pioneered the convention without thinking about it. AK Party Deputy Chairman Mahir Ünal admitted this on TV 5 and said, "The Istanbul Convention was signed in 2012. The Istanbul Convention is actually a package. Over time, we started to see that there are other keys in this package that open other doors in terms of spirit and meaning".
The biggest evidence that the convention is not prepared solely for violence against women is the objection of some council member countries to some articles in its content. Britain, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldova, Hungary, Armenia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Slovakia did not ratify the convention despite signing it. The countries that have signed or ratified the contract are Germany, Andorra, Czech Republic, Denmark, Armenia, Finland, France, Georgia, Croatia, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Iceland, Cyprus, Latvia, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Greece made reservations. Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway objected to some articles of the contract, while Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland put annotations. The United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the Vatican, which joined the agreement with Russia and Azerbaijan as observer countries, did not sign the agreement. Although the USA is not a party in the signing process of the agreement, it is insincere to react after Turkey's withdrawal. Moreover, during the signature process, Turkey was the first country to both sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention as if it were a sacred text.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention is positive. Although perversions have come a long way with international assurance in this process, this is important.
The most important factor in the cancellation of the contract is the determined stance of the National Opinion (Milli Görüş) community. Both the statements made by General Chairman of the Felicity (Saadet) Party, Mr.Karamollaoğlu, and the insistence of Mr.Asiltürk to meet with Erdoğan played an important role. The stance of Milli Gazete since the first day should be appreciated. Editor-in-Chief Mr.Kurdaş has always been ahead in this struggle. Both with the headlines in the newspaper and the book he published. The stance of AGD President Salih Turhan and all organizations of AGD is also admirable.
Ekrem Şama, one of the columnists of the National Newspaper, constantly brought the issue to the agenda. So is Şakir Tarım. We contributed to the process with the articles we wrote about the Istanbul Convention. Some of our articles were cited on law sites, and some were used without reference.
In short, we are against not the articles in the Istanbul Convention to prevent violence against women, but the expressions such as "so-called honor, sexual partner, sexual orientation and gender equality" (which is obviously not just women and men), which are skillfully embedded in the agreement. Besides, what person can tolerate violence against a community that includes "mother, wife, daughter and sister".
Those who turn women into modern slaves, let their sexual objects be marketed to men with money, and those who strengthen their power over the woman's body, if they are sincere, one should start here first. The woman is above all the mother and is at the center with the father in the construction of a healthy society. We have to object to the woman turning into the appetizer of the drinking tables, the entertainment of the men in the nightclubs, the object to be displayed in the advertisements, the object that the power holders change like changing clothes.
Let's stand against domestic violence against women, but not forgetting that the real violence is outside the family. Why don't women who are subjected to violence, who have turned into a worthless commodity in the hands of mafia fathers, money and power owners, and drug dealers, come to the fore?