Turkey severed ties from the landmark Istanbul Convention, which intended to tackle violence against women, midnight Saturday (20 March) because it “normalises homosexuality”. The pact was signed in Istanbul a decade ago as part of an international effort to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence. But in the latest example of Turkey’s right-wing leadership yawning an ever-widening gap between it and the rest of the West, president Recep Erdoğan abandoned the agreement altogether in a surprise executive order, the BBC reported. It was a sudden move that left advocacy groups stunned, already reeling from the years-long rise in the abuse of women in Turkey. Thousands took to the streets in protest Saturday as a result. While the Directorate of Communications, a state promotions agency, sought to stress that the move had to be done. The treaty, it said in a statement Sunday, clashed with so-called family values as it “normalised homosexuality“.