Europeanization and De‐Europeanization of Turkey's Gender Equality Policy: The Case of the Istanbul Convention

Abstract

AbstractDespite taking significant steps to comply with the Copenhagen criteria after receiving the candidate‐country status in 1999, Turkey gradually moved away from European norms, values, and policy demands in various policy areas. This study explores (de)‐Europeanization of Turkey's gender equality policy in terms of both legislative changes and the shifts observed in domestic actors' discourses over the past decade, focusing particularly on the debates surrounding the Istanbul Convention. It argues that the fading credibility of the EU conditionality coupled with domestic political dynamics led to the weakening of the EU as a reference point in domestic debates, where policies ensuring gender equality were reversed by pro‐family conservative discourses and policies. The study points to domestic factors, including the country's authoritarian turn, and international factors such as the stalling EU‐Turkey relations coupled with the backlash against gender equality in EU member states as the key dimensions of de‐Europeanization of gender equality policy.