President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan attended the International Family Forum held in Istanbul, where the President delivered a powerful address highlighting the foundational role of the family unit in sustaining societies.

Speaking at the forum, Erdoğan underlined the urgent need to shield the family institution from mounting global threats. “It is a fundamental duty of us all to combat any sort of threats and attacks against the family, as well as to glorify and reinforce the family institution,” he stated. “To defend the family is to defend the human being. To protect the family is to sustain the society; to foster the family is to build the future.”

Addressing the transformations affecting family structures worldwide, Erdoğan pointed to the rapid technological advancement and digitalization that are reshaping human life. He expressed concern that globalization and modernization, while offering benefits, are also eroding traditional values and destabilizing the family unit. “With the digitalization of our lives in every area, a loss of meaning is concurrently occurring in many traditional institutions, first and foremost in the concept of family,” he noted.

President Erdoğan warned that the modern era has weakened humanitarian values, replacing them with a self-centered worldview at the expense of communal and familial bonds. “We know that the modern age is inflicting serious harms on many values of the humanity as well as on the family institution,” he said.

Emphasizing that societies in which the family disintegrates are destined to collapse, Erdoğan reiterated his call for collective responsibility in preserving the family as the cornerstone of civilization.

The International Family Forum brought together experts, policymakers, and civil society organizations from across the globe to discuss challenges facing families and to propose strategies to uphold and strengthen family values in a rapidly changing world. (ILKHA)