Hundreds of people protest Turkey’s exit from women’s protection treaty

Hundreds of women took to the streets on Saturday in Turkey for the second weekend in a row against the president Erdogan’s decision  to withdraw from the world’s first binding treaty to combat violence against women.

Last weekend, Erdogan sparked anger with his withdrawal from the 2011 Istanbul Convention, which conservatives say harms family unity in Turkey.

To justify the decision to withdraw, the presidency stated last week that the treaty had been “hijacked by a group of people who are trying to normalize homosexuality,” which, it said, is “incompatible” with “social and family values” from Turkey.

An avalanche of reactions from the West and international organizations, including the United Nations, called on Turkey to reconsider its decision.

In the Kadikoy district, in the Asian part of Istanbul, hundreds of women asked Erdogan on Saturday to back down, according to an AFP correspondent.

In Ankara, a smaller group of women protested in the heart of the city, surrounded by riot police.

In Istanbul they chanted: “We are not afraid, we will not be silent, we will not obey.”

Violence against women and femicides are a serious problem in Turkey, and the media deals with the issue on a daily basis.

In one of the latest cases, a 17-year-old pregnant woman was stabbed to death in Izmir province, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The suspect is the man she lived with.