- summary
- On March 20, 2021, President Erdoğan signed a presidential decree withdrawing Turkey from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), which Turkey had signed in 2011 and ratified in 2012 as the first country to do so. The withdrawal — announced without parliamentary debate at 3 AM via the Official Gazette — was justified in part on grounds that the Convention undermined family values and promoted 'homosexuality.' Women's rights groups and civil society organizations mounted significant protests. The withdrawal was the first by any Council of Europe member state from this treaty.
- country
- Turkey
- date text
- 2021-03-20
- entities
- President Erdoğan
- entity type
- Senior Official
- id
- 1111
- name
- President Erdoğan
- role
- actor
- LGBTQ+ community, women's rights organizations
- entity type
- CSO
- id
- 1112
- name
- LGBTQ+ community, women's rights organizations
- role
- target
- President Erdoğan
- sources
- citation
- Human Rights Watch, 'Turkey: Erdogan Withdraws from Gender Violence Treaty,' March 2021; Amnesty International, 'Turkey's withdrawal from Istanbul Convention a devastating blow,' March 2021; Council of Europe Secretary General statement March 2021; Reuters, March 20, 2021; TUSEV CSO Monitoring Matrix Turkey 2020-2021; Presidential Decree No. 3718 (20 March 2021); Council of Europe documentation
- tactics
- Political Authorization by State Actors
- label
- Political Authorization by State Actors
- code
- TC-02
- needs review
- false
- role
- primary
- Legislative Operationalization
- label
- Legislative Operationalization
- code
- TC-18
- needs review
- false
- role
- secondary
- Political Authorization by State Actors
- narratives
- Threat to Family / Anti-Homosexuality / Foreign Imposition
- label
- Threat to Family / Anti-Homosexuality / Foreign Imposition
- code
- LEGACY-N-365506afe2d3
- needs review
- true
- role
- primary
- Sovereign Right / Cultural Protection
- label
- Sovereign Right / Cultural Protection
- code
- LEGACY-N-3871279cc25f
- needs review
- true
- role
- secondary
- Threat to Family / Anti-Homosexuality / Foreign Imposition
- campaign ids
- campaign phase
- Structural Lock-in
- channels
- Presidential Decree, Official Gazette, Presidential Statements
- civic response
- Mass protests by women's and LGBTQ+ organizations across Turkey; Istanbul Convention Platform (a civil society coalition) campaigned for reversal; Council of Europe formally condemned withdrawal; European Parliament resolution demanding reversal
- consequence category
- Treaty Withdrawal / Structural Rights Regression
- created at
- 2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
- date precision
- day
- escalation
- 5
- harm track
- Both
- id
- TUR-024
- institutional consequence
- Turkey withdrew from primary European legal instrument protecting women from violence; women's rights organizations lost key advocacy framework; withdrawal legitimized anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric at highest state level
- notes
- The Istanbul Convention withdrawal has dual significance: it removes a substantive legal protection for women while simultaneously legitimizing at the highest state level the linking of LGBTQ+ identity to threats to family and society. This state-level narrative reinforcement makes sustained civil society advocacy against LGBTQ+ discrimination substantially harder and more dangerous. | Merged from unimported draft TUR-037 (add_turkey_2020_2023.py): First-ever withdrawal from Istanbul Convention by any CoE member state; NF-11 (Foreign Mercenary / Identity Threat) explicitly invoked — government stated Convention being 'hijacked by groups promoting LGBTI ideology' | Additional tactic: TC-29
- occurred on
- 2021-03-20
- trigger type
- Political mobilization of conservative base; anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-feminist narrative consolidation
- updated at
- 2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
- version
- 1
The public research collection