Istanbul Convention – Inglourious Tenth Anniversary

Abstract

The tenth anniversary of the signing of the Istanbul Convention indicates a change in the attitude of the states that were its most ardent advocates at the time of its creation. The change in discourse resulted in Turkey's withdrawal from the Convention, and the emergence of new voices in the states, indicating the unwillingness to undertake social change, by invoking traditional family and intersex values. What is the biggest obstacle to further adoption of the Convention, despite the negative statistics regarding gender-based violence and domestic violence? The biggest obstacle, as defined in this article, is the new understanding of gender, as a socially defined category, which, however, greatly affects the generally accepted traditional social values. This paper aims to shed light on the possibilities for achieving the goals of the Convention in the light of (in)readiness to change the traditional social discourse.