http://www.thememriblog.org/turkey/blog_personal/en/6017.htm

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"Speaking a few hours ago at a ‘Women’s Day’ event in Usak, PM Tayyip Erdogan said, “My dear lady sisters, we should not fall into a trap; we must protect our young population. What do they [Western proponents of birth control] want to do? They want to dry the roots of the Turkish nation, make it extinct. If we do not want our population to decrease, every family must have three children at least. My dear citizens, you must know that [a] child is blessing. I believe in this as I lived it myself. I have four children, and I am pleased. I am telling you openly, I wish I had more. Every child came with his blessing"."

What a primitive guy!

Turkish PM urges women to have more children

women should have at least three children to help shield the country from the problems of an ageing population now being suffered by many Western countries, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says.


"We have to preserve our young population ... If you do not want our population to fall, every family should have three children. It's your decision," he told female supporters at a provincial gathering to mark International Women's Day on Saturday.

"I have four children. I'm happy. I wish I had had more. Children are a blessing," said Erdogan, a pious Muslim. Turkey has about 71 million people, according to census data, and the population is growing by about a million a year.

But smaller families of one or two children are becoming more common in affluent western regions of the country. Larger families are the norm in the poor, largely Kurdish east.

"Our population is young now but if current trends continue we will be ageing by 2030. This is a threat to us. We don't want to feel this threat. We have to keep things well balanced," said Erdogan.

On current projections, Turkey's population will peak in about a decade below 100 million and then gradually decline.

Turkey's parliament is expected shortly to approve a social security reform prepared by Erdogan's government that will raise retirement ages in a bid to reduce a ballooning deficit.

The current system encourages early retirement, which threatens to place great strain on the economy if left unchecked as fewer young people join the labour force.
Reuters | Saturday, 08 March 2008

Sounds like someone is a little threatened by women having power over thier own reproductive decisions. At least that is what it looks like to me!

I thought there were limits to how many babies people can have in China. But it is true that the older the population the more problems there are for the country. Still, like Alameda said, I thought Turkey was not really threatened by this issue. Most European countries though have been facing this issue for a while. Government plans to encourage women to be more "productive" (sorry for the expression) are failing because women are not so eager to give up their careers and free time in order to have more than one or two babies (if any). In effect, rich communities tend to have less babies than the poor ones, well, but for Ireland, I was shocked that women here have 5 babies on average.

Unfortunately, no government appeals will bring success as people have their rights and it's impossible to impose child-bearing duty on them.

I think it is more important for a leader to improve the conditions that exist in a country before suggesting that the population add more mouths to feed. I know so many young Turkish men who can not marry because they can not find work....Is the PM suggesting that families have 4 or 5 children despite the fact that there are no jobs for Daddy or Mommy?

I want at least 5

I see a broken water pump in Beykoz, running continuously. I see shop-keepers hosing down their floors daily. I see car cleaners spraying hosepipes from morning through to mid-night while the water just pours away.

WE HAVE HARDLY NO WATER IN OUR POOR RESEVIOR.

And he is spending his time wondering around Turkey telling us woman to have more babies ! Aren't there more important things he should be dealing with !

Goodness graciouos me !

Nice point Cacik....I know Turkey has other, far more important issues. It is a shame that this particular leader does not appear to want to address the things he does have the power to change.