Turkey’s top administrative court, Danistai, ruled Monday that the country’s decision to withdraw from the “Istanbul Convention,” a European treaty aimed at combating violence against women but which Turkey and Eastern European countries accuse of encouraging gender ideology and LGBT activism, according to of Turkish legislation, the EFE agency reports, citing Agerpres.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided in the spring of 2021 to withdraw from the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention), believing that it contradicts the traditional concept of the family.

“No one has the right to impose on us what gender classes we divide our people into and how to define relations between them,” President Erdoğan warned.

The government in Ankara, for its part, claimed that the convention was “hijacked by a group trying to normalize homosexuality,” referring to activists who cite the agreement to demand additional measures to protect the LGBT community.

The presidential decree issued by Erdogan in March 2021 on Turkey’s withdrawal from the convention was challenged in court by the opposition. But Danistai’s decision on Monday finally confirms this decree.