HÜDA PAR (Free Cause Party), a conservative political party in Türkiye advocating for Islamic values, held a significant panel discussion titled “The Last Castle Family” in Kayseri.

HÜDA PAR Women and Family Presidency convened a major panel in Kayseri titled “The Last Castle Family,” bringing together party leaders, activists, and citizens to address what they described as an intensifying assault on the family unit in Türkiye.

The event underscored concerns over Western cultural influence, imported legal frameworks, and societal trends eroding the traditional Islamic family structure.

The panel, hosted under the leadership of HÜDA PAR Women and Family Chair Aynur Sülün, was part of a year-long initiative by the party to raise awareness and develop strategies for preserving family values.

Opening the panel, Sülün thanked attendees and framed the discussion around the growing challenges facing families in the country.

“As you know, the attacks on the family institution are gaining momentum day by day, and our family structure is significantly affected. As HÜDA PAR Women and Family Presidency, we aimed to dedicate 2025 to a series of panels to talk about the dilemmas and solutions for the family institution,” she said.

Quoting former Bosnian leader Aliya Izetbegović, Sülün recalled his words: “The West has dominated all the squares of our lives. There is only our family structure left, which it has not sufficiently penetrated yet.”

She warned that even this “last castle” is now under siege. “Decades have passed since the deceased said this. Unfortunately, our last remaining castle is now under occupation. And unless we launch a decisive struggle against this occupation, like a war of liberation, we will face a process that may be impossible to repair,” she declared.

Sülün argued that laws adopted in parallel with international conventions, along with feminist-oriented policies, have severely damaged family unity.

“The laws enacted in line with these conventions, the values, morality, faith, compassion, and loyalty that keep the family together are all being eroded—sometimes subtly through media, sometimes directly through legislation. The bitter consequences of all these invasions are evident, yet the real causes are ignored. Solutions are sought in material measures or in more Western concepts, which only deepen the crisis,” she said.

She stressed that most policies claiming to protect women have failed both women and families. “More problems, more violence, more divorces, fewer marriages, a declining population… The cycle continues because the solutions are sought in the wrong place. Unless we take our faith as a basis and cleanse ourselves of all that belongs to the West, it is not possible to achieve salvation,” she added.

HÜDA PAR Deputy Chairman and Gaziantep MP Şahzade Demir also addressed the panel, warning that family erosion is a slow-moving crisis with potentially irreversible consequences.

Comparing the danger to a forest fire, Demir said: “If precautions are not taken, this fire will cause much bigger disasters. Every time they take something from us and we remain silent, the next step comes. We all have a geography, a belonging, a family. But day by day, we are drifting away from hese belongings. We are Muslims, but all the values that make us Muslim are being taken away from us piece by piece.”

Demir warned that generational identity and fidelity are under direct threat. “Extramarital affairs are being normalized. Instead of policies that protect the family, we see practices that dismantle it. Generational belonging is under serious threat. We are facing a confusion where we may no longer even know who belongs to which family, which generation, which community,” he said.

Declaring that HÜDA PAR has mobilized against attacks on the family, Demir pointed out that while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared 2025 as the “Family Year,” concrete legislative steps have yet to be taken.

“Policies that need to be developed have not yet materialized. There is a dire need to introduce legislation and a system to protect the family, but there are strong lobbies working to prevent this,” he noted.

Demir argued that governments concerned with electoral politics are reluctant to take bold measures. “We need to take steps that will keep our family institution alive without worrying about political gain or bowing to the pressures of feminist structures or the West,” he said.

As part of HÜDA PAR’s proposals, Demir advocated for introducing family mediation and family arbitration into Türkiye’s judicial system.

“Family arbitration offers a valuable alternative for protecting family unity. Unfortunately, the family mediation system is strongly opposed by certain groups. We call for the immediate introduction of family arbitration into the judicial system with a mechanism designed to preserve the integrity and stability of the family,” Demir emphasized.

The panel concluded with a joint call for a nationwide effort to preserve the family as a cornerstone of society. Participants agreed that legal, educational, and social measures are necessary to reverse harmful trends, and emphasized that the struggle is as much cultural as it is legislative.

The Kayseri event is one of several panels planned for 2025 under HÜDA PAR’s “Last Castle” initiative, aimed at mobilizing both policy and public action to defend the family institution from what the party sees as an ongoing ideological occupation. (ILKHA)