Erdoğan's 'at least three children' request now condition for housing support

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The minister of family and social services has announced that the government will provide financial support for housing to women who lost their husbands.

However, only women with three children younger than 18 and who have already been receiving welfare benefits will be eligible for the support.

"We are realizing a housing project for women who have lost their husbands and who receive welfare benefits. We will have two different methods of supporting, one of building houses and one of purchasing houses," Derya Yanık said in a written statement today (October 24).

"The houses will be built so that they will be 80 m2 each. The houses to be preferred for purchasing will again be of similar quality.

"We will be giving support of 300,000 Turkish Lira for each house, and the needed funds will be provided by the municipalities and benevolent citizens. The houses will be the property of the Foundation of Social Help and Solidarity (SYDV). The beneficiaries will have the right of usage in the houses for free."

The Women's Platform for Equality (EŞİK) criticized the statement in a tweet, saying, "'At least three children' is no longer a call but a condition... Poor women are not the incubators of the system. Do not relate social assistance to the number of children. We decide on the number of our children or whether or not to give birth!"

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is known for demanding that citizens have "at least three children," which has long drawn the ire of women's rights defenders. (EMK/PE/VK)