Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that family planning and contraception were not for Muslim families, in his latest comments promoting population growth that angered women activists.

Erdogan said it was the responsibility of mothers to ensure the continued growth of Turkey’s population, which has expanded at a rate of around 1.3 percent in the last few years.

“I will say it clearly… We need to increase the number of our descendants,” he said in a speech in Istanbul.

“People talk about birth control, about family planning. No Muslim family can understand and accept that! As God and as the Great Prophet, peace be upon him, said, we will go this way. And in this respect the first duty belongs to mothers.”

Erdogan and his wife Emine have two sons and two daughters. Earlier this month, the president attended the high-profile marriage of his younger daughter Sumeyye to defense industrialist Selcuk Bayraktar. His elder daughter Esra, who is married to the up-and-coming Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, has three children.

According to the statistics office, Turkey’s population rose to 78.741 million last year. The population in 2000 was less than 68 million.

Related articles across the web

• Turkey's Erdogan approves new government formed by ally
• Erdogan tells EU: Turkey's Parliament will block EU migrant deal if no visa-free travel
• Brickbat: Don't Upset the Turk
• [Ticker] German court bans parts of Erdogan poem
• PM Tsipras meets Turkish President Erdogan
• German Court Bans Bulk of Satirical Poem About Turkish Leader
• Shoebat: Muslim Brotherhood now the Most Powerful Army in NATO After Coup
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ally appointed prime minister of Turkey
• May 22 Middle East news summary at 2400 GMT
• Turkish Lawmaker Calls for Dropping Secularism