Municipality gives İstanbul Convention booklet to newly married couples

ESKİŞEHİR

A municipality in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir has started to give the newly married couples a booklet of the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty aiming to combat violence against women, along with their marriage certificate.

“We are giving the Istanbul Convention booklet along with their marriage certificates to newly married couples. We invite all our citizens to claim this vital contract. The Istanbul Convention keeps alive,” it said in a statement made by Eskişehir’s Odunpazarı Municipality.

“What should be questioned here is that the contract is still not implemented,” said Mayor Kazım Kurt, adding that it is extremely sad to even discuss the Istanbul Convention.

“The convention is the life guarantee of women and guides the development of policies that will fully ensure the equality of women and men. We will continue to defend the convention for a country where domestic violence and femicide disappear,” Kurt said.

The convention had led to the passing of a bill, also known as Article 6284, in 2014, which established legal mechanisms to combat gender-based violence and discrimination.

The heated public discussions in Turkey come amid an increase in the country’s domestic violence cases over the past few months.

The municipality, which aims to announce the convention to a wider audience, has previously carried out various studies to draw attention to the problem of violence against women.

Providing free counseling to women who were subjected to violence during the lockdown period, the municipality gave the names of the murdered women to the public and youth centers it opened.