Istanbul: Turkey's Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu today faced a barrage of criticism on social media after suggesting that women should prioritise the "career" of motherhood before anything else.
"Women of the world have the career of motherhood that no one else can experience," Turkish media quoted Muezzinoglu as saying on Thursday at a hospital where he welcomed the first baby born in Istanbul on New Year's Day.
"Mothers should not prioritise another career other than the career of motherhood. They should focus on the raising of good generations."
The criticism was led by best-selling Turkish author Elif Safak who tweeted: "Motherhood is not a 'career' anyway.
Aylin Nazliaka, an MP of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and prominent champion of women's rights, said the government's "glorification of motherhood" was insincere.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had infuriated Turkish women by recently claiming that women were not equal to men and describing birth control as "treason".
Visiting the newborn at the hospital in the Istanbul district of Zeytinburnu, Muezzinoglu expressed satisfaction that the boy was the couple's third baby.
He also urged women to breastfeed and to avoid Cesarian sections, reaffirming advice repeatedly given by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Critics accuse Erdogan and the AKP of interfering in women's private lives and imposing a creeping Islamisation of Turkey's officially secular society.
"Women of the world have the career of motherhood that no one else can experience," Turkish media quoted Muezzinoglu as saying on Thursday at a hospital where he welcomed the first baby born in Istanbul on New Year's Day.
"Mothers should not prioritise another career other than the career of motherhood. They should focus on the raising of good generations."
The criticism was led by best-selling Turkish author Elif Safak who tweeted: "Motherhood is not a 'career' anyway.
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Aylin Nazliaka, an MP of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and prominent champion of women's rights, said the government's "glorification of motherhood" was insincere.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had infuriated Turkish women by recently claiming that women were not equal to men and describing birth control as "treason".
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Visiting the newborn at the hospital in the Istanbul district of Zeytinburnu, Muezzinoglu expressed satisfaction that the boy was the couple's third baby.
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He also urged women to breastfeed and to avoid Cesarian sections, reaffirming advice repeatedly given by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
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Critics accuse Erdogan and the AKP of interfering in women's private lives and imposing a creeping Islamisation of Turkey's officially secular society.
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