MHP’s 'Family Institution Workshop' final report released

The Family Institution 2024 Workshop, organized by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on September 14-15, concluded with a press conference presenting the final report.

Speaking at the program, MHP Deputy Chairman Ahmet Selim Yurdakul stated that their main goal is to prevent harm to every aspect of the family, saying, “As the Nationalist Movement Party, we decided to hold this workshop to serve our country on this issue, following the instructions of our Chairman, Devlet Bahçeli.”

Chairman Yurdakul emphasized that the vision of the workshop is a strong Turkish family structure, a healthy society, and a leading country, Turkey.

Stating that 142 scientists participated in the workshop, Yurdakul said, “142 scientists are here; these scientists include academics, politicians, experts, representatives from non-governmental organizations, associations, federations and foundations, and business people. We completed our workshop with 12 expert groups covering 12 different topics at 12 tables. As you can see here, we tried to conduct our workshop on 12 different institutions related to the family, and we decided to present the report that emerged after this workshop to the service of the Turkish nation in 3 detailed volumes.”

“TRADITIONAL CULTURAL PRODUCTS SHOULD BE INCLUDED”

Mentioning that they categorized the risks brought by social and demographic changes and the family under two groups, Yurdakul said, “The first is protective recommendations, and the second is remedial and strengthening recommendations. Among the protective and preventive recommendations, family education programs should be developed and implemented in cooperation with all relevant institutions, especially the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Family and Social Services, to increase awareness of the challenges families face in social life.

Another important factor is the education process; we decided to examine it in two parts: pre-marital and post-marital. Within this education, it was recommended that modules be created for family communication, children's socialization, family law, financial education, partner selection, marital relationships, and sexual and reproductive health. Of course, among the protective and preventive recommendations, traditional cultural products such as lullabies, children's games, and fairy tales should be updated and included in family education curricula to restructure cultural values. Additionally, there should be at least one counseling center within the Ministry of Family and Social Services in every district, and the activities of these centers should be increased.”

Yurdakul stated that among the remedial and strengthening recommendations, a social risk map should be created to identify families under socio-economic risk, and that non-governmental organizations working to strengthen the family should be granted the status of public-benefit associations in the face of anti-family NGOs.

Discussing the importance of reproductive health information, Yurdakul said, “Another important issue for both the world and our country is reproductive health information. As you all know, the marriage age in our country has reached 29, and unfortunately, 85% of the egg reserve of our 35-year-old women is lost by age 35. Therefore, married couples should be informed by experts about family planning and reproductive capacity after marriage. After the first birth, information should be provided by expert teams regarding reproductive potential for a second child.

In fact, this education should be given to our children starting from their school years. Because we must protect our future; unfortunately, the fertility rate in our country has dropped to 1.5, which threatens our country. For a country to renew its population, that is, for the continuity of its security, peace, and stability, this rate needs to be at least 2.1. Therefore, this rate is currently 1.5 in our country and is gradually decreasing. So, what do we need to do for this? Financial policies that encourage having children should be developed.”

Yurdakul said the following:

“For our working mothers who give birth, we should provide two months of paid leave before birth, six months of paid leave after birth, and for the second six months, flexible and remote working models should be used, and breastfeeding breaks should be provided; if the mother wishes, two years of unpaid leave should be provided. Along with these, childcare centers operating at night should be established, and the costs of these centers should be adjusted so as not to disrupt the economic structure of families. Secure, flexible, and remote working models should be encouraged, a vocational training structure suitable for labor force needs should be activated in secondary education, and sexual and reproductive health information should be included in school curricula.”

LGBT PROPOSAL: ADD THE PHRASE 'MAN AND WOMAN'

Arguing that one of the most important problems is LGBT, Yurdakul said, “One of the most important problems we all face is degenderization and LGBT. Our proposals for combating propaganda on this issue are as follows: First, the definition of family needs to be updated. It would be appropriate to add the phrase 'man and woman' to the definition of family in the Constitution. Along with this, the inspection and control of films and series broadcast on digital platforms should be carried out, and education programs should be provided to parents to help their children develop a healthy sexual identity in accordance with the gender they were born with.”

News Source: AA