Turkish government establishes Family Institute, Population Policies Board

With a presidential decree, Erdoğan founded the Family Institute and Population Policies Board following concerns over declining fertility rate in Turkey. Erdoğan has been a vocal promoter of “family values,” encouraging families to have more children while targeting the LGBTI+ community.

Friday December 27 2024 06:22 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has established the Family Institute and Population Policies Board.

The move was announced in the Official Gazette on Dec. 25 with a presidential decree.

The Population Policies Board will be formed under the Family and Social Services Ministry “to ensure the formulation and more effective implementation of population policies with a holistic approach in coordination, to monitor and evaluate developments in the demographic structure.”

The board will be headed by a vice president, and will consist of ministers of justice, family and social services, labor and social security, youth and sport, treasury and finance, interior, education, health, as well as the heads of Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), Communications Directorate, and Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

The board will be responsible for developing and maintaining policies regarding population.

The Family Institute, on the other hand, will be responsible for “protecting and strengthening the family structure and values, increasing the social welfare of the family, conducting research covering all the activities of the Ministry to create policies and data on women, children, disabled, elderly, relatives of martyrs, veterans and relatives of veterans,” state-run Anadolu reported.

The moves came after the government’s concerns over declining fertility rate in the country.

According to TÜİK data, the fertility rate declined to 1.51 in 2023, below the population replacement level of 2.10.

Erdoğan regularly embarks on “pro-family” speeches, targeting the LGBTI+ community in the country.