Turkish president under fire for ‘racist’ remark on Kurds

Karwan Faidhi Dri

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has received heavy criticism from the opposition leaders and social media users after he asked a couple, who recently joined his party, on Wednesday to compete with the Kurdish fighters by increasing the number of their children. Many have seen this as a “racist” remark against Kurds.

Mehmet Ali Celebi recently resigned from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and joined Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) earlier this month. When officially welcoming him during a party event on Wednesday, Erdogan first asked him about the number of children he had. When Celebi said that he had one child, Erdogan asked him and his wife, who accompanied the politician, to have more children. 

“How many children do you have?” asked Erdogan. “One. My wife is studying for a PhD as part of her career,” answered the new member of the AKP. 

“Her career is to give birth to children. The number [of children] should be increased. Let's wish for it to continue. Children are very important. Look, the PKK [families] have 5, 10, 15 children,” said the Turkish president, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. 

Celebi said “hopefully” they will have more children when his wife completes her postgraduate study. 

The conversation between Erdogan and the couple went viral on social media, with many opposition leaders and Twitter users describing the president’s remark as “racist.”

Meral Danis Bestas, lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), condemned Erdogan’s remark.  

“Erdogan knows very well that the members of the [PKK] organization do not have children,” she told other lawmakers at the legislature. 

“He sees having many children as an act of terrorism,” she said, describing his comments as “racist” and “anti-Kurd.”  

“Since the children of this country were not born in Qandil, your point is clear, Mr. Erdogan!” said Ahmed Davutoglu, leader of the Future Party, in a tweet on Wednesday, referring to Mount Qandil in the Kurdistan Region where the PKK is headquartered.  

PKK does not allow marriage or any sexual relationship between its fighters. Founded decades ago with the stated aim of struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey, the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. 

“Your remarks are disrespectful to human and women rights. Every child born in this country is an honourable citizen of the Republic of Turkey. It is racist to discriminate between children!” added Davutoglu who founded his party in 2019 after leaving the AKP. 

Ilhami Isik, top advisor to Davutoglu, told Rudaw English on Thursday that Erdogan’s remark is “the reflection of anger through language.”
 
“The president of a country humiliates millions of people living in this country, not just accusing them of terrorism but also sees them as ignorant and undeveloped,” Isik added. 

This is not the first time that Erdogan calls on people to have more children. He said in 2009 that each couple must have at least three children. In 2017, he called on Turks living in Europe to have at least five children.  

 

Ali Babacan, leader of the DEVA party, said in a tweet on Wednesday that Erdogan “knows that they [women] did not give birth to 5-10 children on the mountain, but he accuses millions of our Kurdish citizens of terrorism. This is too bad and embarrassing.”  

Sezgin Tanrikulu, lawmaker for the CHP, said in a tweet that Erdogan’s remark was “anti-Kurd” and insults women as well.  

Erdogan’s party is second-largest in the Kurdish areas in the southeastern part of the country (Northern Kurdistan). He has said multiple times that he loves Kurds and does not accept racism against them.