- Erdogan says global gender-neutral policies target innocent children and the family; he urges protecting families made up of women and men.
- On Sept 13 Turkey launched a crackdown seeking arrests of 162 activists, framed as protecting children and the institution of the family.
- Erdogan repeatedly targets the LGBTQ community as deviant and blames it for falling birth rates, vowing continued initiatives against lobby groups.
Children and traditional family structures are coming under attack from global gender neutrality policies, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
“Global gender-neutralisation policies… have turned into a siege targeting innocent children, alongside the family institution,” the Islamo-conservative leader told the United Nations General Assembly.
“We can break this siege only by protecting the family consisting of women and men,” he added. “Turkey will continue to take initiatives to protect families and children, despite attacks from lobby groups.”
On September 13, Turkey launched a major crackdown on the LGBTQ minority with raids seeking the arrest of 162 activists and community members in a move it said was aimed at protecting “children and the institution of the family”.
The crackdown sparked protests at home and abroad and was denounced by international rights groups, the United Nations and European Union.
The LGBTQ community has frequently been targeted by Erdogan who has described it as a “deviant movement” of “perverts” responsible for Turkey’s falling birth rate.
