Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared 2025 as the "Year of the family." Promoting a conservative image of the family is another attempt by his Justice and Development party (AKP) to shape Turkish society according to its own worldview.

In the more than 20 years he has been in power, Erdogan has made it clear what he understands this to be. In 2008, he told Turkish women to "give birth at least three times," to address the falling birth rate and the subsequent aging population. "We want to raise a religious youth," he declared in 2012, repeating the sentiment several times since.

The "Year of the family" is supposed to emphasize traditional and Islamic values in family policy. The idea is to strengthen the idea of family as an institution. Erdogan has warned of a "cultural erosion" and criticized the image of the family in many popular media outlets in Turkey. When he presented his new campaign, he spoke of a "policy of genderlessness" that was "attacking" the family.

Women's rights activists have criticized the campaign, accusing the government of creating "cultural hegemony" in family policy and of wanting to standardize Turkish society according to its own norms.

At the end of last year, Erdogan signed a decree on the "status of the family" that laid the foundations for the government's new campaign. Selin Nakipoglu, a........

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