Women's organizations working in Mersin called on all women to take to the streets and defend the Istanbul Convention on 1 July, the day when the withdrawal becomes effective.
The “Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence”, known as the Istanbul Convention, will be repealed on 1 July. Calling for participation in the actions defending the Convention, women's organizations in Mersin said that they would not give up on their gains.
Çiğdem Göksu, chair of Mimoza Women's Association, who participated in the Research Commission on Determining the Causes of Violence Against Women, said that the commission would not be effective in preventing violence against women. Emphasizing that work about law number 6284, which is based on the Istanbul Convention, has been quite loose for a long time, Göksu said: "There is no other regulation that talks about gender-based discrimination in such detail, deals with male violence in detail, and imposes a duty on the state. The Istanbul Convention is of vital importance for women. We won’t give up on it.”
Elmas Kara, member of Mersin Women's Defense Network, called on all segments of society to embrace the Istanbul Convention, saying that "1 July will be the turning point." She underlined that violence against women cannot be resolved independently of gender inequality and added that a country without violence cannot be established without destroying gender roles.
