A Critical Assessment of Turkey’s Positive Obligations in Combatting Violence against Women: Looking behind the Judgments

Abstract

After almost two decades in power, R. T. Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have established authoritarian and Islamist governance in Turkey, which has adversely affected gender equality and women’s rights. So much so, that in 2009 the European Court of Human Rights acknowledged that there is a climate conducive to domestic violence in Turkey (Opuz v. Turkey). Despite Erdoğan withdrawing Turkey unconstitutionally from the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), the government cannot withdraw from the state’s duty to protect its citizens from the criminal acts of private individuals. By using international and regional organisations’ approaches to positive obligations and due diligence as a measure, the article addresses whether Turkey is fulfilling its duty of protecting women from the violent conduct of others. It is concluded that the government is failing in its positive obligations and instead, is reinforcing the climate through its discourse and practices that strengthen a national tolerance of violence against women and the national authorities’ reluctance to address it, thus allowing for impunity of its perpetrators.

Illiberal and Populist Political Narratives on Gender and Underreporting of Sexual Violence: A Case Study of Hungary

“…First and foremost, they run a high risk of revictimization. There is an elevated chance that in the hostile "gender climate" (Gülel, 2021), they will not be believed, their complaints will be swept under the rug, and even be ostracized by their families, workplaces, or even the whole country in publicized cases. Open discourse on family violence and victimization does not fit the illiberal political agenda; thus, victims' stories will be discredited and they will be stigmatized.…”

“…Interview participants reflected on the poor qualities of state-provided services, lack of training and supervision and transparent monitoring. There is insufficient public information on the criteria used for training, no rules ensuring training continuity, no data showing whether personnel work adequately with victims of sexual violence, guarded by no monitoring procedure or guidelines (Gülel, 2021). This is to support Grzebalska and Pető's (2018) concept of the polypore state which only builds a scaffolding of services, visible to the public but lacking professionalism and substance.…”

“…The due diligence standard implies not only lawmaking in the relevant area but also changes in cultural and social patterns and transformation of social institutions that reinforce or appear to justify acts of violence (Qureshi, 2013). In countries where the state did not act according to the due diligence standard (e.g., Gülel, 2021;Sainz-Pardo, 2014), CSOs stepped in to fill the gaps in services, advocacy, education, and victim support, by providing specialized training for service providers, as well as financial empowerment, psychosocial counseling, and safe houses for victims in order to deter further victimization (FRA, 2014).…”

“…According to the concept, illiberal states tend to create ghost institutions mimicking real, functioning services but lacking professional staff, content, mon-itoring, supervision, transparency, and accountability. In this fashion, the polypore state established top-down civil organizations (GONGOs; Gülel, 2021) with empty agenda, parallel to discrediting organic, bottom-up civil organizations. GONGOs are loyal to the political regime; hence, they receive immense support and funding to reach wider audiences with the politically-backed agenda of protecting the family unit.…”