Erdoğan tells Turks in Europe to 'have five children'

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on Turkish citizens living in Europe to have five children - two more than his usual calls to Turks in the homeland - in a bid to multiply their presence in the continent so that they will be the "future of Europe."

"I am calling out to my citizens, by brothers and sisters in Europe," Erdoğan said at a rally in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir on March 17. "Have not just three but five children."

"The place in which you are living and working is now your homeland and new motherland. Stake a claim to it. Open more businesses, enroll your children in better schools, make your family live in better neighborhoods, drive the best cars, live in the most beautiful houses," he said. "That's because you are the future of Europe. It will be the best answer to the vulgarism, antagonism, and injustice made against you."

Erdoğan's message comes amid ongoing political tension after Turkish ministers' attempts to stage rallies with members of the Turkish community living in Europe were denied by some countries and after the European Court of Justice ruled to allow employers to ban workers from wearing visible religious symbols, including the headscarf. 

Slamming the decision known as the "headscarf ban," Erdoğan said: "They are banning the headscarf. We are fed up. Where is the freedom of religion, freedom of conscience? Ban the kippa if you can. Can they [ban the kippa]?" 

He also claimed that the real reason behind the rising antagonism toward Turks in Europe was "the discomfort they feel as Turkey has become an independent country with its economy and situation in the world."

"The Turkey they dream is a dependent country which they can order around," he said. "They have no...