(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described efforts to promote birth control as "treason", saying contraception risked causing a whole generation to "dry up", reports said yesterday.
Erdogan made the comments, directly addressing the bride and groom at the Istanbul wedding ceremony of the son of businessman Mustafa Kefeli, who is one of his close allies.
He told the newly-weds that using birth control was a betrayal of Turkey's ambition to make itself a flourishing nation with an expanding young population.
"One or two children is not enough. To make our nation stronger, we need a more dynamic and younger population. We need this to take Turkey above the level of modern civilisations," Erdogan said. "In this country, they (opponents) have been engaged in the treason of birth control for years and sought to dry up our generation," Erdogan said. "Lineage is very important both economically and spiritually. I have faith in you," he said in comments reported by the Dogan news agency, which also posted a video of his speech.
"Marriage is a long journey. There are good days and bad days. Good days become more frequent as we share them and bad days finally bring happiness if we are patient," said Erdogan. He added: "One (child) means loneliness, two means rivalry, three means balance and four means abundance. And God takes care of the rest," he added.
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