GIGA Talk

After Istanbul: Women’s Rights and Human Rights in Turkey

Date

11/05/2022

Start

04:00 p.m. (UTC)

End

05:30 p.m. (UTC)

After Istanbul: Women’s Rights and Human Rights in Turkey
Video GIGA Talk - After Istanbul: Women’s Rights and Human Rights in Turkey
1 / 4
After Istanbul: Women’s Rights and Human Rights in Turkey
Video GIGA Talk - After Istanbul: Women’s Rights and Human Rights in Turkey

  • In March 2021, Turkey announced that it would leave the Istanbul Convention – the Council of Europe’s milestone legislation in addressing violence against women and domestic violence. This step, which took effect on 1 July 2021, came as an unexpected reversal since the Convention had been signed under the Turkish presidency of the Council of Europe in May 2011 and the Turkish parliament had been the first to ratify it in 2012. Turkish women’s rights organisations and opposition parties protested in the streets against this shock decision and condemned it as a further setback to Turkey’s continued democratic development. 

    What has changed on the ground since then? What were the reasons behind the withdrawal from the Convention, important given the fact that it came in the context of other undemocratic moves such as Turkey’s refusal to implement key decisions by the European Court of Human Rights, the ongoing imprisonment of political opponents, the trial ban against the Kurdish HD Party, and the intimidation of civil society activists and journalists? What does all this imply for the Turkish government’s claim that it still pursues EU accession as a strategic goal?  

    Meanwhile, the economic situation is bleak, the ruling AK Party faces a considerable decline in popularity, yet the political opposition has been weak. However, in February six opposition parties announced that they would form an alliance for next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.  

    This GIGA Talk will investigate the conditions on the ground, especially for women, following Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. It will also examine the broader context of Turkish domestic politics and the implications of the country’s democratic backsliding.  

    Speakers:  Feray Salman is General Coordinator of İHOP–Human Rights Joint Platform, Turkey. 

    Dr. Hakkı Taş is a Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies. 

    Discussant:  Petra Dachtler is Diplomat in Residence and Fellow at the GIGA.  

    Moderator:  Prof. Dr. Merike Blofield is Director of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies.



    Address

    Online event

    Language

    English

    Registration

    We would like to ask you to register for this event. The registration is free of charge. You will receive your personal participation link and further information by e-mail before the online event starts. If you do not receive this email right before the event (please also check your spam folder), please contact us: events@giga-hamburg.de. By registering, you agree to the GIGAs data protection guidelines. We will update our data protection notice as necessary. You can find the current version at: https://www.giga-hamburg.de/en/data-protection.

    We offer our events digitally or in hybrid setting. We monitor the current pandemic situation and act accordingly. We look forward to your participation.

    GIGA Focus Middle East | 1/2022

    Doom and Gloom: Leaving Erdoğan’s Turkey

    Although known as a host and transit country, Turkey today is in the midst of its fifth wave of emigration as a result of the country’s authoritarian and economic challenges. From asylum seekers to wealthy businesspeople, many seek to leave Erdoğan’s Turkey to make a fresh start elsewhere.

    Research Project | 01/10/2020 - 31/10/2021

    Policy Tracker on Gender-Based Violence

    The policy tracker aims to provide context, insight and analysis into governmental response to issues of gender based violence during the coronavirus pandemic. We will collect data globally, and engage in more detailed case studies of a smaller set of countries. Our goal is to create a publicly available knowledge exchange platform for policy-makers, scholars and advocates.
    BMZ, GIGA, 2020-2021

    Prof. Dr. Merike Blofield

    Former GIGA Team member

    Notification

    Sign up to receive email notifications about GIGA activities

    Social Media

    Follow us