E-Paper

UAE

Life and Living

World

Opinion

Business

Sports

Entertainment

Dubai World Cup

lifestyle

Travel

Reviews

Brands

Supplements

KT Events

KT APPDOWNLOAD

Family planning not for Muslims, says Erdogan

Top Stories

UAE announces 2-month grace period for residence visa violators

UAE announces fee refund for tax service charges from August 1

Paid parking in Dubai: Residents face up to Dh4,000 extra yearly costs when new rates kick in
Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a rally marking the 563rd anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul - formerly Constantinople - in Istanbul, Turkey.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a rally marking the 563rd anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul - formerly Constantinople - in Istanbul, Turkey.

Istanbul - Erdogan said it was the responsibility of mothers to ensure the continued growth of Turkey's population, which has expanded at a rate of around 1.3 per cent in the last few years.

By AFP

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Mon 30 May 2016, 5:00 PM

Last updated: Mon 30 May 2016, 7:27 PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that family planning and contraception were not for Muslim families, in his latest comments promoting population growth that have angered women's activists.
Erdogan said it was the responsibility of mothers to ensure the continued growth of Turkey's population, which has expanded at a rate of around 1.3 per cent in the last few years.
"I will say it clearly... We need to increase the number of our descendants," he said in a speech in Istanbul.
"People talk about birth control, about family planning. No Muslim family can understand and accept that!
Erdogan and his wife Emine have two sons and two daughters. Earlier this month, the president attended the high-profile marriage of his younger daughter Sumeyye to defence industrialist Selcuk Bayraktar.
His elder daughter Esra, who is married to the up-and-coming Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, has three children.
In 2014, he described birth control as a "treason" which risked causing a whole generation to "dry up".
And he has famously urged mothers to have four children, saying: "one (child) means loneliness, two means rivalry, three means balance and four means abundance."
According to the statistics office, Turkey's population rose to 78.741 million last year. The population in 2000 was less than 68 million.


More news from