HÜRRIYET (Turkey)
ISTANBUL – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on his nation’s families to have at least three children, Turkey’s daily Hurriyet reports.
Erdogan used a speech to declare that the strength of a nation lies within its families, which must be fortified with more children.
“One or two children means bankruptcy,” Erdogan said speaking at this week’s International Family and Social Policies Summit. “Three children gives families a chance of improvement and it helps the population which currently risks aging.”
Erdogan noted that many countries in the West face the problem of an aging population, and stressed that it is an issue that should not be taken lightly in Turkey.
Erdogan also underlined that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) centers its policies on strong families with solid values.
“It is extremely dangerous if a family loses its values and therefore we are working on projects to protect these values and carry them through the generations,” he said in the Wednesday remarks.
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An Erdogan poster in Istanbul (myrat)
The AKP has distributed 108 billion Turkish Liras ($610 million) in social aid to ensure family unity is not jeopardized by economic burdens. “If we gave aid to the fathers they would buy cigarettes, but we gave aid to the women of the households so it benefits their children,” Erdogan said.
This is not the first time Erdogan addressed the nation about the size of families. Speaking at a Women’s summit in March, he said that women should not believe in “television propaganda that suggests Turkey’s population is too large.”
