Turkey Vows Government-Wide Fight Against Gender Ideology

By

NEW YORK, June 6 (C-Fam) In line with President Erdoğan’s priorities, the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services has demanded its regional offices and other executive agencies adopt a unified stance against “gender”, “gender identity,” “sexual orientation,” and “LGBT.” The Ministry said these terminologies contradict Turkey’s moral values and undermine family structures.

The ministerial directive was issued in recognition of 2025 as the Year of the Family and as part of a broader Turkish initiative to promote policies that protect and strengthen the traditional family unit and “fight harmful trends.”

“Policies aimed at strengthening the family institution should be implemented effectively, as they influence every area of life and social structure,” the directive reads.

The ministry decried the recent trend of “international forums and documents” that routinely reference the idea of “gender” and “gender identity,” which conflicts with Turkey’s national values and “negatively affect[s] family institutions and undermine the structure of women, men, and children, and therefore of society as a whole.”

The official document argues that framing “gender” as a social construct can be used to undermine “biological reality and may lead to devaluation or invisibility of the needs of women and men based on their biological identities.”

“The concepts of gender and gender identity have increasingly replaced the term ‘sex’ in international documents. These concepts, seen to potentially affect society on a macro level, attempt to define gender outside of biological characteristics and on the basis of self-identification.”

The directive is consistent with Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a 2011 treaty on violence against women developed with the backing of the Council of Europe and referencing controversial terminologies such as gender identity and sexual orientation.

Following the withdrawal in 2021, President Erdoğan said the convention “has not led to respect for women’s rights in either our country or the world,”  and that other national instruments are better suited for tackling the problem of domestic violence.

The directive also mentioned that the Ministry of Family and Social Services is collaborating with other national bodies and relevant institutions to monitor the spread of controversial gender terminologies and to develop educational campaigns to raise awareness about their harmful impact on society.

“This work aims to ensure a common understanding and alignment in the protection of family values, and to prevent the spread of terminology and content inconsistent with our national and moral values in international documentation and education programs. “

A group of 85 pro-LGBT Turkish NGOs condemned the Ministry of Family for its directive, arguing that “compulsory heterosexuality and the binary gender regime were reproduced over and over again to protect women’s secondary position“ and that the traditional family narrative reinforces “gender roles assigned to women, the labor of care, and the patriarchal order.”

Several feminist advocates said that the directive violates Turkey’s obligation under international treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).  “CEDAW acknowledges the negative impacts of gender on women and requires preventive measures,” said Suzan Işbile, who chairs the Rosa Women’s Association.

Stefano Gennarini, Director of Legal Studies at C-Fam, clarified that “the ministerial directive does not violate international law or the CEDAW convention. The CEDAW convention enshrines protections for women based on sex. It does not even mention the word gender.”

“In fact, gender ideology threatens protections for women, as the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Reem Al-Saleem, has said repeatedly in recent reports,” Gennarini commented.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter