ISTANBUL
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the main reason for global problems was “lack of justice.”
Speaking at the International Women and Justice Summit in Istanbul, Erdogan criticized those, who “defend the rights of seals." “They do not show any reaction to the killing of thousands of women and children in Palestine and Syria.”
Erdogan said Turkey will continue to host refugees via its open-door policy. Turkey has welcomed Syrian refugees since the beginning of the civil war in that country in March 2011.
The financial cost of their presence on Turkish soil has reached $4.5 billion, the country’s finance minister Mehmet Simsek has said.
Erdogan criticized other countries for keeping silent about this issue, saying that they are insensitive.
"Over 300,000 people have been killed in Syria. Yet the world says nothing," said Erdogan.
Erdogan went on: “If you do not defend the human rights of Palestinian and Syrian women and children as much as you defend environmental issues, you cannot be sincere, honest and fair.”
“The main thing that we need to resolve all the global problems is justice,” he said, “The solution for racism is justice, the solution for anti-semitism and Islamophobia is justice, and the solution of women’s problems is, again, justice.”
His remarks came ahead of the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th.
“You are a hope for all the suffering women in the region," the president told members of Istanbul-based Women and Democracy Association, which organized the summit.
Criticism of feminism
Erdogan also criticized feminism, whose aim is to establish equal rights for woman.
Erdogan said: "You cannot claim that men and women are equal, as their natures are different," speaking at the Women and Justice Summit, organized by Women and Democracy Association in Istanbul on Monday.
"In the work place, you cannot treat a man and a pregnant woman in the same way," Erdogan said.
Erdogan also said that women can not do all the work done by men, because "It is against women's delicate nature."
"Our religion regards motherhood very highly. Feminists don't understand that, they reject motherhood" he said.
What women need is to be equally respected, rather than equality, said Erdogan.
Erdogan insisted that his government has always been on the side of women in their struggle for equal rights. Erdogan said "We will continue our support."
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