It has been 2 years since the “Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence”, known as the Istanbul Convention, was repealed by the decision of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey was the first country to sign the convention, which aimed at “protecting women from all kinds of violence and preventing, prosecuting and eliminating violence against women and domestic violence” on 11 May 2011. It ratified it in its parliament on 24 November 2011.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan brought the Convention onto the agenda, saying it will be “reviewed” in February 2020. It was a time in which some sects and communities also targeted the Convention, saying that it "destroyed the family structure" and "prepared the legal ground for homosexuality".

It was in this environment of attacks on the convention that Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention with a decree published in the Official Gazette on 20 March 2021 by President Erdoğan.

Following the notification made by Turkey's decree, the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe announced that this decision will enter into force on 1 July 2021.

The withdrawal was part of the AKP government's policies towards women and their rights and gains, and, as predicted, led to an increase in violence against women.

According to the report by Candan Yüceer, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, published on 8 March 2023, during the AKP rule, 7,990 women were murdered by men. As a matter of fact, this number increased after Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. According to the figures provided by women's organizations and news agencies, in the 2 years since the abolition of the convention at least 600 women were murdered, at least 400 women died in suspicious circumstances.

JinNews: 692 Women murdered

According to JinNews, 692 women were killed in a two-year period, while 408 women died under suspicious circumstances. According to the agency, in the period July-December 2021, 199 women were killed by men, 111 women died suspiciously.

In 2022, 348 women were murdered, 206 women died suspiciously.

In the period January-May 2023, 145 women were killed, 91 women died suspiciously.

KCDP: at least 608 women killed

According to We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP), between 1 July 2021, when the convention was lifted, and May 2023, 608 women were killed by men, 463 women died under suspicious circumstances. The number of femicides increased in the first 5 months of 2023, when 126 women were killed by men, and 101 died under suspicious circumstances.

Council of State rejected application against withdrawal

In addition to women, opposition parties, bar associations and civil society organizations filed a lawsuit with the Council of State arguing that the withdrawal was not acceptable.

The 10th Chamber of the Council of State announced its decision in July 2022. It found Erdoğan's decision "in accordance with the law", and therefore rejected the application. The plaintiffs then appealed the decision. The final decision was made in the file that was transferred to the Council of State Administrative Case Divisions and it was decided to reject the appeal objections.