"Our country's withdrawal from the convention will not lead to any legal or practical shortcoming in the prevention of violence against women," President Erdogan's office had earlier said in a statement.
Turkey has officially withdrawn from an international treaty to prevent violence against women, enacting a decision that that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in March.
The Istanbul Convention, negotiated in Turkey's biggest city and signed in 2011, had committed its signatories to prevent and prosecute domestic violence and promote equality. Turkey was the first country to ratify it.
"Our country's withdrawal from the convention will not lead to any legal or practical shortcoming in the prevention of violence against women," Erdogan's office said in a statement to the administrative court on Tuesday.
The withdrawal was formalised ahead of Erdogan speaking at the '4th National Action Plan for Combating Violence Against Women Introductory Meeting" in Ankara.
"We will continue our struggle," Canan Gullu, president of the Federation of Turkish Women's Associations, said on Wednesday.
She said that since March, women and other vulnerable groups had been more reluctant to ask for help and less likely to receive it, with Covid-19 fuelled economic difficulties causing a dramatic increase in violence against them.
Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu commenting on the withdrawal from the accord had said in March that the existence or absence of international conventions "does not decrease or increase our responsibilities to prevent any form of crime."
A court appeal to halt the withdrawal was rejected earlier this week in Turkey.
Femicide has surged in Turkey, with one monitoring group logging roughly one per day in the last five years.
Proponents of the convention and related legislation say more stringent implementation is needed.
Ankara's announcement to quit the convention this year had triggered condemnation from both the United States and the European Union where many states have not yet ratified the document.
At least 13 countries have not ratified it: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Many people in Turkey and in the governing Justice and Development (AK) Party say the pact undermines the family structures that protect society.
Some also see the Convention as promoting homosexuality through its principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
This month, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic sent a letter to Turkey's interior and justice ministers expressing concern about a rise in homophobic narratives.
"All the measures provided for by the Istanbul Convention reinforce family foundations and links by preventing and combating the main cause of destruction of families, that is, violence," she said.





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