Erdogan: People Using Birth Control Are “Traitors”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains one of the most controversial leaders in Turkey’s history. A devout Muslim, Erdogan has steadily dismantled the secular traditions of country — a rare alternative to the Sharia systems or Islamic republics common in Muslim nations. As in those other countries, the insertion of Islamic rules have been accompanied with crackdowns on civil liberties, press freedom, women’s rights, and religious minorities. Recently, that included heavy fines for a television program for showing the immorality of a man dancing with a Western woman. Erdogan also attempted to rewrite history (with human rights) by recently declaring that Muslims discovered America . As criticism has mounted, he has inflamed his religious followers over a vast media conspiracy against his righteous policies. Now, Erdogan has attacked the use of birth control as a form of “treason” and said that women must commit themselves to having three or more children in the interests of the nation: “One or two is not enough.”

Previously, Erdogan has proposed limits on abortion rights, the morning-after pill and Caesarian sections.

There are many secular Muslims,including many women who reject Erdogan’s views. However, Erdogan’s success is based on his ability to rally and maintain support of Islamic parties and groups.

Erdogan warned that traitors using birth control would make a whole generation to “dry up” in speech at the Istanbul wedding ceremony of the son of businessman Mustafa Kefeli, one of his closest allies. He told the couple not to use birth control “[t]o make our nation stronger.” Ironically, he insisted that more children will “take Turkey above the level of modern civilisations,” despite his efforts rollback on basic human freedoms and to impose religious dogma on the population.

Most people go for the funny story or the touching account for the newlywed couple. Erdogan instead wanted that “In this country, they [meaning those who disagree with him] have been engaged in the treason of birth control for years and sought to dry up our generation.”

Women, according to Erdogan, must focus on producing the requisite number of children: “One (child) means loneliness, two means rivalry, three means balance and four means abundance. And God takes care of the rest.”

He ended appropriately enough with “I have faith in you.”