Plan B Forum

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set off a new controversy, declaring that women are not equal to men and accusing feminists of not understanding the special status that Islam attributes to mothers.

Addressing a meeting Monday in Istanbul on women and justice, Erdogan said men and women are created differently, that women cannot be expected to undertake the same work as men, and that mothers enjoy a high position that only they can reach. He said: 'You cannot put women and men on an equal footing. It is against nature. They were created differently. Their nature is different. Their constitution is different.'

Erdogan told the audience of Turkish women - which included his own daughter Sumeyye - that Islam has 'defined a position for women [in society]: motherhood.' 'Some people can understand this, while others can't,' he added. 'You cannot explain this to feminists because they don't not accept the concept of motherhood.' He recalled: 'I would kiss my mother's feet because they smelled of paradise. She would glance coyly and cry sometimes.


The president went on to say that women's 'characters, habits and physiques are different.... You cannot place a mother breastfeeding her baby on an equal footing with men. 'You cannot get women to do every kind of work men can do, as in Communist regimes. 'You cannot tell them to go out and dig the soil. This is against their delicate nature.'


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'I would kiss my mother's feet because they smelled of paradise. She would glance coyly and cry sometimes.