JINHA

ISTANBUL - The international Istanbul Convention to combat violence against women went into force in dozens of countries one year ago. While Turkey likes to boast of being among the first signatories, women's rights lawyers say nothing has changed on the ground.

On August 1, 2014, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence--named after the city of Istanbul, where it was first opened for signatures--went into effect. 39 countries in Europe have signed the convention.

Turkey was the first signatory to the convention in 2011. However, the country has made little effort to implement the convention in the one year since it went into effect, say women's rights lawyers in Turkey. Even laws passed since 2011 regarding violence against women have clashes with the terms of the Convention.

SelinNakıpoğlu is a lawyer for independent women's shelter foundation Purple Roof and a member of Socialist Feminist Collective. She stressed that the Istanbul Convention is the most progressive international agreement on women's rights in the world and the first one to use a gender perspective in its writing. Signatories to the convention agree to set up crisis centers, telephone lines and mechanisms to prevent secondary effects of women subjected to violence--including the sexist attitudes of police, lawyers and judges.

The Convention calls for countries to change their own laws to meet these conditions, said Selin.In Turkey, this has not been the case. However, even Turkey's 2012 law "for the protection of the family and prevention of violence against women" continues to clash with the Istanbul Convention.

It is unrealistic to expect the Istanbul Convention to change everything "like a magic wand," said Selin. "However, for them to behave as if it didn't exist at all, that's surprising for me in this period."

The Convention defines violence against women as including physical, sexual, social, psychological and economic violence and calls for holistic policies to prevent such violence.Selin said that Turkey has not made any effort to set up a protection and support system for abused women, which the Convention requires.

Even Purple Roof lawyers' applications to the government language board to change sexist definitions in the official dictionary have met with rejection.

"Whether or not the government makes legal reforms, this convention has the force of law," said Selin. She called on the Turkish government to report what, if anything, it has done to comply with its legal obligation and implement the Istanbul Convention.

(en-fm/fk/cm)