Erdoğan declares 2026–2035 the 'decade of family'

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared the years between 2026 and 2035 the “decade of family,” calling for long-term policies to protect what he described as the core of society.

“Family and population are not such a narrow agenda that can be fit into one year. We have to develop permanent policies that protect the family and human nature," Erdoğan told the International Family Forum in Istanbul on May 23.

His announcement expanded on the government’s earlier move to name 2025 the “year of family."

"The family institution, consisting of a man and a woman, is indispensable for the continuation of the human generation. Family is our most protected harbor. It is a home where our children, who are the guarantee of our future, receive their first education," he said.

"Any society in which the family collapses is doomed to decay and collapse. It is the primary duty of all of us to resist all kinds of attacks against the family. To defend the family is to defend human beings."

Erdoğan also used his remarks to criticize what he called the erosion of spiritual values and the rise of individualism under the guise of modernization.

"Many traditional institutions are losing their meaning. In the name of individual freedoms and modernization, we see that spiritual values are being eroded. Global imperialism is allowed to target the family," he said.

"Although some people do not want to accept it, it is impossible for an individual who is separated from his family and whose national bonds are weakened to be free and original. What is presented with the packaging of freedom is actually an order of bondage and slavery... This siege, which is called freedom, threatens women, children and human dignity."

The president further lashed out at the LGBTQ+ rights movements, labeling them a “scourge” and claiming that critics of LGBTQ identities were being silenced.

"We absolutely cannot watch this abuse. They are enemies of humanity, women and children. The struggle against LGBTQ perversion is also a struggle for freedom, dignity and the future of humanity."

"We will continue our struggle against desexualization policies. We will not tolerate its normalization."

He also criticized what he called “gender-neutralization policies,” vowing continued resistance to their normalization in Turkish society.

Erdoğan cited Türkiye’s falling fertility rate — now at 1.48 children per woman, below the population replacement threshold of 2.1 — as a looming crisis. He blamed part of the decline on what he said was the “legitimization of abortion” by unnamed groups.

“This is a disaster,” he said.