Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan ‘s recents comments condemning abortion, considering it murder and comparing it to Uludere event by saying ‘every abortion is another Uludere’, spark fury and raging and yet another divisive debate in Turkey.

Istanbul / NationalTurk – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments against abortion and caesarean births and comparing abortion to Uludere airraid, where 34 citizens have died, by stating ‘every murder is another Uludere’ kickstarted furious debate and sparked stark criticism. Erdoğan told at a speech at 2012 Parliamentarians’ Conference of International Conference on Population and Development on May 25th that abortion should be considered as ‘murder’.

The divisive debate over abortion and women’s rights in Turkey has been fueled further after Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin emerged to offer her vigorous support for the Turkish Prime Minister.

Our womb, our life

A group of 50 women gather outside of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s office in İstanbul, protesting his comments on abortion. ‘The decision is up to us,’ wrote on one of the banners carried by protesting women. Women wishing to perform their protest in front of the prime minister’s office at Dolmabahçe, Besiktas were blocked by the police, so they staged a sit in the main street. As the policemen warned them and wore their gas masks, members of the women rights collective made a press statement at the pavement.

Other banners in the protest read as ‘Our Womb, Our Life, Our Decision’ and ‘Male violence is murder, abortion is the choice of women’, ‘5 women are murdered per day, why don’t you deal with this Prime Minister?’ ‘Do not touch my right to abortion’ also chanted by the women chanted in slogans condemning Erdogan’s comments on abortion.

Female Family and Social Policies Minister in Turkey : Vigorous support for her leader

‘It is out of question for us to tamper with this right [to life] as the [governing] political will,’ Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin stated, calling or the use of family planning methods to render it unnecessary to resort to abortion. ‘ Caesarean is a surgical operation even if it seems painless. It bears risks in terms of the mother’s health’ she added.

In Turkey, abortion is legal during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, while PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the ruling AKP (Justice and Devolopment Party) isn’t shy at all as he encourages Turkish families to have at least 3 children in most of his speeches, a reflection of AKP’s policy regarding family planning.

Certain opposition figures and other nongovernmental organizations in Turkey have reprehended the Turkish prime minister for his remarks on abortion in Turkey.

Abortion debate in Turkey, main opposition : PM should quit standing guard over vaginas

‘ We are deeply disappointed by the prime minister’s comments. He ought to quit doing politics over women’s bodies. To put it in a nutshell, I say the prime minister ought to quit standing guard over women’s vaginas. The totalitarian regime has brought Turkey to the point of intervening in people’s private lives,’ told Aylin Nazlıaka, an Ankara deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

‘ The only European country that has banned abortion is Malta. The prime minister boasts that we have become the world’s 16th or 17th largest economy recently, but he also places Turkey in the same category as Malta on the other hand,’ Nazlıaka said.

Erdoğan compares abortion to Uludere

Tayyip Erdoğan compared abortion to the botched air raid that killed 34 lives in Uludere in southeastern Turkey by saying :

‘ I am a prime minister who opposes Caesarean births, and I know all this is being done on purpose. I know these are steps taken to prevent Turkey’s population from growing further. I see abortion as murder, and I call upon those circles and members of the media who oppose my comments: You live and breathe Uludere. I say every abortion is an Uludere’ thus a Turkish Prime Minister was recorded as citing. ‘ I consider abortion as murder. Nobody should have the right to allow this. You either kill a baby in mother’s womb or you kill it after birth. There’s no difference.’

Erdogan continued ‘Turkey needs a young and dynamic population that constitutes the basis of its economy and we are going to strive to increase the country’s population.’

Hale Akgün a lawyer from Istanbul Bar Association said ‘ Insofar as human rights are concerned, abortion constitutes a right within the boundaries of law, as it is a situation that concerns women. It has been scientifically examined, and the question of when [the fetus] constitutes a living being is a scientific matter. Giving birth to a child a woman cannot look after is far more harmful both psychologically and economically. ‘

Istanbul Feminist Collective has been the first organisation to protest Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments on abortion.

Their statement consisted following arguments :

A pregnant woman is not a mother!

The fetus is not a child.

A woman has the rights to her own body and it does not belong to the state

This is our body. Abortion is our fundamental right.

Cesarean is a method for the birth

Abortion under healthy and safe conditions is our health right you cannot violate.

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