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Turkey‘s announced withdrawal from the Council of Europe‘s Istanbul Convention on violence against women is devastating news, the Secretary General at the Organization said in a released statement on Saturday. 

"The Istanbul Convention covers 34 European countries and is widely regarded as the gold standard in international efforts to protect women and girls from the violence that they face every day in our societies. This move is a huge setback to these efforts and all the more deplorable because it compromises the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyond,” Marija Pejčinović Burić added. 

As reported earlier, Turkey's President Erdogan pulled the country out of an international treaty, despite calls from campaigners who see the pact as key to combating rising domestic violence. No reason was provided for the withdrawal, but officials in Erdogan’s ruling AK Party had said last year the government was considering pulling out amid a row over how to curb growing violence against women.