No Muslim family should engage in birth control: Turkey prez Erdogan

No Muslim family should engage in birth control or family planning, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, calling again on pious Muslims to have more children.

No Muslim family should engage in birth control or family planning, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, calling again on pious Muslims to have more children.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the members of an educational foundation in Istanbul on Monday. (AP)

“We will multiply our descendants. They talk about population planning, birth control. No Muslim family can have such an approach,” he said in a speech in Istanbul broadcast live on television. “Nobody can interfere in God’s work. The first duty here belongs to mothers,” he said.

Women’s groups and opposition politicians have criticised Erdogan, a devout Muslim for telling women how many children to have and dismissing the Western idea of gender equality. He has previously equated birth control with treason.