Turkey: GREVIO’s (Baseline) Evaluation Report. Concluding remarks

349. In conclusion, GREVIO finds that the situation regarding violence against women in Turkey offers a mixed picture, where undeniable evidence of progress coexists with reasons to be concerned. 

350. This analysis cannot be made in isolation from the current context that prevails in Turkey. As previously mentioned in this report, such diverse factors as the draining of resources in the civil service sector that came with the mass dismissal of civil servants following the failed coup attempt, the anti-terror measures and the security operations in South-East Turkey, are not propitious to the fulfilment of women’s right to live a life free from violence. 

351. At the same time, these factors can easily overshadow the less visible reality of the many women and men, in parliament and in line ministries, among civil society and in NGOs, public servants and professionals, whose relentless work aims to make laws and policies to prevent and combat violence against women become reality. 

352. Without clear direction and an unswerving adherence to the principles of gender equality, such efforts and the many legislative and other gains which advanced the cause against violence against women in Turkey risk regressing. In particular, the authorities should take an uncompromising stance against any attempt to culturalise the issue of women’s rights and deflect attention from the root cause of violence against women which lies in the unequal gendered structures in society. 

353. During the evaluation process, GREVIO noted the signs of a tendency which would seem to depart from one of the fundamental principles of the Istanbul Convention, namely the gendered nature of violence against women in all countries. Turkey played a leading role during the negotiations on the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which, in its short name – the Istanbul Convention – bears testimony before the international arena of the authorities’ staunch support to its goals. GREVIO can only encourage Turkey to uphold its adherence to the principle of the gendered nature of violence against women as a means to continue to affirm its “ownership” of the Istanbul Convention. 

354. GREVIO requests the national authorities to translate this report into their official national language and to ensure that it is widely disseminated, not only to the relevant state institutions at all levels (national, regional and local), in particular to the government, the ministries and the judiciary, but also to NGOs and other civil society organisations that work in the field of violence against women. 

https://rm.coe.int/eng-grevio-report-turquie/16808e5283