Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he considers birth control to be a betrayal against the nation while encouraging parents to have large families.
"For many years in this country they have been committing betrayal with birth control and have put the generation on a path to drying out," Erdogan said in a video posted online on Monday which appears to have been taken during a wedding reception, where he is addressing the bride and groom.
Erdogan, who was among a number of senior politicians at the wedding hosted by a top businessman, also encouraged the young couple to have many children, saying a growing population creates a dynamic economy.
"One (child) would be estranged, two would be rivals, three would be balanced, four would be abundance, and more, God takes care," Erdogan said at the event which took place over the weekend.
He has previously stated families should have at least three children and has voiced his opinion that abortion is "murder," though the practice remains legal in Turkey.
Secularist opponents say Erdogan is trying to impose Islamist religious values into everyday life, in opposition of the country's founding values of separation of church and state.
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