Recep Tayyip Erdogan is known for previously equating birth control to treason and harshly opposing gender equality.
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However, Mr Erdogan’s latest comments make it clear his views have not softened.
“I am saying this clearly, we will increase our posterity and reproduce generations”.
In a speech broadcast live on TV, he said “no Muslim family” should consider birth control or family planning. No Muslim family can understand and accept that! In that same year, Erdogan said that women were “not equal” to men, and accused feminists of rejecting the idea of motherhood while speaking at the First International Women and Justice Summit in Istanbul.
Erdogan and his wife Emine have two sons and two daughters.
Touching upon the Syrian crisis, he said: “The Syrian regime, as well as DAESH and the PYD terror groups have become a trio supporting each other in Syria; one can not survive without the others”.
His elder daughter Esra, who is married to the up-and-coming Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, has three children. The population is just under 80 million.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım were among the high-profile attendees of the event.
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports that his speech was meant to grant life advice to the young members of the TÜRGEV program, with birth control being only one of the dangers Erdogan encouraged his audience to avoid.
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She said that Turkey was “not at the level we want” in terms of women working but added the employment rate among women had increased 52 percent in the last years.
