Istanbul: The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that men and women cannot be treated equally because of their biological differences and it would go against human nature.
Speaking to a group of women that included his daughter Sumeyye here on Monday, Erdogan said: " Our religion(Islam) has defined a position for women: motherhood. Some people can understand this, while others can't.
"You cannot explain this to feminists, because they do not accept the concept of motherhood", said the Turkish President.
Erdogan said, men and women cannot be treated equally because "their characters, habits and physiques are different...You cannot place a mother breastfeeding her baby on an equal footing with men. Similarly, you cannot get women to do every kind of work that men can do, as in Communist regimes."
"You cannot tell them to go out and dig soil. This is against their delicate nature. ...I would kiss my mother's feet because they smell of paradise. She would glance coyly and cry sometimes. Motherhood is a completely different thing", Erdogan said.
Erdogan has been at the centre of a controversy in which his government has declared that every woman in Turkey should have three children. His government has also introduced proposals to put a limit on abortion rights and the use of birth control pills.
