By CEYLAN YEGINSU
The New York Times
ISTANBUL — He has called women unequal to men. He has demanded that some high school students learn an Ottoman-era script scrapped nearly a century ago. Now, he has described birth control as treasonous.
In his campaign to buttress what he sees as Turkey’s rightful place in the world, the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has offended many who view his assertions as sexist, paranoid or outdated.
The latest came on Sunday, when Mr. Erdogan upstaged a wedding couple with a speech in which he described birth control as a threat to the country’s lineage.
As a witness to the newlyweds, the president urged them to have at least three children, and blamed contraception advocates for hindering the country’s growth.
“For years they committed a treason of birth control in this country, seeking to dry up our bloodline,” he said in a speech during the wedding ceremony. “Lineage is very important, both economically and spiritually.”
Mr. Erdogan, an Islamist leader, has made comments on the subject of reproduction that others view as divisive and chauvinist. Over the course of his 11 years as the dominant leader of Turkey, he has expressed strong opposition toward abortion and contraception, and has called on women to have at least three children, but preferably four or five.
But until now he had not equated birth control with an act of treason.
Last month, he drew the ire of women when he declared that they were not equal to men. Speaking at a women’s conference, he said Islam had “defined a position for women: motherhood.”
Explaining his position, Mr. Erdogan said: “Some people can understand this, while others can’t. You cannot explain this to feminists because they don’t accept the concept of motherhood.”
His comments set off a wave of criticism from women’s rights advocates, who warned that such remarks undermined the role of women in society, which leads to discrimination and violence.
“This is not just about the president interfering in people’s private lives,” said Ebru Kazanc, a member of the Platform to Stop Violence Against Women. “He is actively stalling the process for women to obtain equal rights in this country.”
Mr. Erdogan’s critics say that the president sometimes resorts to inflammatory comments about women to divert attention from pressing issues in the political agenda.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he made the comments about birth control just a day before his ex-ministers were being questioned about the corruption allegations against them,” Ms. Kazanc added, referring to a sprawling case that has threatened Mr. Erdogan’s government.
This month, Mr. Erdogan appeared to stir another backlash by decreeing mandatory courses at religious high schools in Ottoman Turkish, a version of Arabic script replaced with the Latin alphabet by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey in 1923. Critics called Mr. Erdogan a throwback to the sultan.