As birthrate falls, Erdogan declares ‘decade of the family'
ISTANBUL: In a bid to tackle Turkey's falling birthrate, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday announced the 'decade of the family', and again lashed out at the LGBT community as 'deviant'. 'The period between 2026 and 2035 has been identified as the decade of family and population,' said Erdogan in opening the International Family Forum in Istanbul. 'Our country is facing a great danger: Turkey's birthrate for the first time in our history dropped to 1.48' children per woman, he said, citing figures from the Turkish statistical institute (TUIK). 'This is a disaster, this figure is way below the critical threshold of 2.1,' he said. 'What we are facing right now is not only a statistic, but a warning pushing us to act. That's why in recent years, we have taken important steps to encourage ... all families to have at least three children.'
Back in 2001, Turkish women had an average of 2.38 children, TUIK statistics show. It is not the first time Erdogan — a pious Muslim and father of four — has raised the alarm over Turkey's declining population, warning last month it was 'a threat much more significant than war'.
In January, he declared 2025 would be the 'year of the family'. He also used his speech to lash out at the LGBT community, which had been a repeated target of his 2023 election campaign. 'This deviant movement, called LGBT... has turned into a (form of) fascism and oppression which rejects any other different ideology,' he said, saying opposing the LGBT agenda was 'fighting for human dignity and honor'. He also warned against moves to blur the distinction between traditional genders. 'Although some opposition parties and some women organizations advocate this deviant movement, de-gendering projects threaten our national security,' he said, vowing his government would 'fight against them with great commitment'. — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
32 minutes ago
- Kuwait Times
Russia strikes kill 25 in Ukraine as Kremlin notes Trump ultimatum
Moscow says it wants peace in Ukraine hours after mounting heavy attacks KYIV, Ukraine: Russia said on Tuesday that it wanted peace in Ukraine, hours after mounting attacks that killed at least 25 people, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen prison inmates. The strikes came just hours after US President Donald Trump shortened his deadline for Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine—now into a fourth year—or face new sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of willfully targeting a prison in the Zaporizhzhia region—that Russia claims as its own—killing 16 people and wounding dozens others. 'It was a deliberate strike, intentional, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility,' Zelensky said on social media in response. The Kremlin denied the claim. 'The Russian army does not strike civilian targets,' spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including from AFP. The attacks came hours after Trump said he was cutting the deadline for President Vladimir Putin to halt the Ukraine war from 50 days to 10-12 days. 'I really felt it was going to end. But every time I think it's going to end he kills people,' Trump said Monday on a visit to Scotland. 'I'm not so interested in talking (to him) anymore,' he added. Peskov said Moscow had 'taken note' of Trump's new deadline and that it remained 'committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests.' Ukraine's justice ministry said Russian forces hit the prison in Bilenke with four glide bombs. Police said 16 inmates were killed and 43 wounded. Bricks and debris and blown out windows were strewn on the ground, according to images released by the ministry. The facility's perimeter was intact and there was no threat that inmates would escape, it added. Rescue workers searched for survivors in pictures released by the region's emergency services. A senior Ukrainian source said that 274 people were serving sentences in the Bilenkivska facility. The source added there were no Russian war prisoners at the centre. Nadiya, a resident of Bilenke, told AFP the attack damaged her house. 'At about ten minutes to six, a neighbour called and said: 'Come quickly, your roof is gone.' Is that normal? Not a single window is intact,' the 74-year-old said. The Ukrainian air force said that Russia also launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight, adding that its air defense systems had downed 32 of the drones. One attack targeted a hospital in the town of the Kamyanske in the Dnipropetrovsk region, wounding 22 people. 'Putin is rejecting a ceasefire, avoiding a leaders' meeting, and prolonging the war,' Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media. 'He will only end his terror if we break the spine of his economy,' he added, calling on Western allies to consolidate around sanctions on Moscow. 'Three people were killed in the attack, including a pregnant woman. Her name was Diana. She was only 23-years-old,' Zelensky said. Separate strikes in the eastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia killed six people, regional authorities said. In the southern Russian region of Rostov, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, the region's acting governor said. Kyiv has been trying to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the invasion in 2022. The Russian defense ministry claimed fresh advances across the front line on Tuesday, saying its forces had taken two more villages—one in the Donetsk region, and another in Zaporizhzhia region. The prison strike on Tuesday came on the third anniversary of an attack on another detention facility in occupied Ukrainian territory that Kyiv blamed on Moscow and was reported to have killed dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the night-time strike three years ago on the Olenivka detention centre in Russian-occupied Donetsk region, which the Kremlin says is part of Russia. Ukraine says dozens of its soldiers who laid down their arms after a long Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol were killed in the attack. – AFP
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
President steps up calls for Hezbollah to disarm
MARJAYOUN: This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun, shows smoke rising from the area of Al-Dimashqiyeh following a Zionist airstrike on July 31, 2025. – AFP BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stepped up his calls for Hezbollah to disarm on Thursday, suggesting failure to do so would give Zionists an excuse to continue attacks and saying the issue would be on the agenda of a cabinet meeting next week. The comments reflect mounting pressure over the issue of Hezbollah's arms, which has loomed over Lebanon since the Iran-aligned group was pummeled in a war with Zionist entity last year. Washington wants Hezbollah disarmed - a demand echoed by the Beirut government as it aims to establish a monopoly on weapons. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Wednesday that calls for its disarmament served only Zionist entity. In a speech to army officers, Aoun said the government would next week discuss Lebanon's amendments to a US roadmap to disarm Hezbollah, deemed a terrorist group by Washington. Lebanon's counter proposal demands an immediate halt to Zionist attacks, its withdrawal from positions held in the south, the establishment of state control over all Lebanon and the disarmament of armed groups including Hezbollah, he said. Aoun urged all parties 'to seize this historic opportunity ... and push for the exclusivity of weapons in the hands of the army and security forces'. He said the government would set a timeframe to implement the steps. Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, backed by Tehran, was the only Lebanese group allowed to keep its weapons at the end of the 1975-90 civil war on the grounds it needed them to fight Zionist troops who occupied the south but withdrew in 2000. Hezbollah's arsenal has long divided Lebanese, with critics saying it has undermined the state and dragged Lebanon into conflicts. Washington has been pushing Lebanon to commit to disarming Hezbollah before talks can resume on halting Zionist military operations, Reuters reported earlier this week. Hezbollah has so far refused, though the group has been considering scaling back its arsenal. Addressing Hezbollah and its followers but without naming them, Aoun called on those who 'have faced the aggression' to 'rely solely on the Lebanese state'. 'You are too honorable to risk the state-building project, and too noble to provide pretexts for an aggression that wants to continue the war against us,' he said. Zionists killed many Hezbollah commanders and thousands of its fighters last year, while also destroying much of its arsenal. The US proposal delivered in June would require Hezbollah to disarm within four months in exchange for the withdrawal of Zionist troops occupying several posts in south Lebanon, and a halt to Zionist airstrikes. Hezbollah had already relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army in line with a US-brokered truce designed to end last year's war. Aoun said the proposals to be discussed next week include seeking $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and the security forces and plans for an international conference to later in the year to support reconstruction efforts.- Reuters
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Trump blasts India and Russia as ‘dead economies'
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump labeled Russia and US ally India 'dead economies,' indicating that his threat to ramp up tariffs on New Delhi will now go ahead. In a social media post sent at midnight Wednesday, Trump said 'I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.' 'We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let's keep it that way,' he added. The statement on Truth Social followed Trump's announcement Wednesday that India will face 25 percent tariffs, while also announcing an unspecified 'penalty' over New Delhi's purchases of Russian weapons and energy. Trump, 79, said the tariffs would kick in on Friday. He gave no indication in either announcement about what penalties would be imposed for India's continued trade with Russia, which is under massive US and Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Trump had said the United States will impose further sanctions on Russia in 10 days—which would be the end of next week—if it does not make moves to end the three-year war. He has previously threatened that new measures could mean 'secondary tariffs' targeting Russia's remaining trade partners, such as China and India. This would further stifle Russia, but would risk significant international disruption. The warning was mocked by Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and key ally to current leader Vladimir Putin, who responded that Trump was issuing a 'theatrical ultimatum' and that 'each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war.' In Wednesday's midnight post, the US president slammed Medvedev, calling him 'the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words.' 'He's entering very dangerous territory!' Trump warned. The 25 percent tariff on India would be marginally lower than the rate announced in April, but is higher than those of other Asian countries that have struck preliminary trade agreements with Washington. India, the world's most populous country, was one of the first few major economies to engage the Trump administration in broader trade talks. But six months later, Trump's sweeping demands and India's reluctance to fully open its agricultural and dairy sectors have so far prevented New Delhi from sealing a deal. — AFP
