HÜDA PAR’s Women and Family Presidency hosted a panel titled “The Last Fortress: Family” at Cultural Centre in Batman.

The gathering drew a large, concerned audience amid growing alarm over the rapid erosion of traditional, God-ordained family values in Türkiye.

Moderated by Lawyer Zehra Talayhan, the panel commenced with a recitation from the Holy Qur’an, setting a solemn and sacred tone. HÜDA PAR Batman Provincial Chairman Davut Şahin and Women’s Branch Provincial Chair Şenay Coşkun delivered opening remarks, warning of the deep societal challenges attacking the very foundation of the Muslim family and emphasizing the need for culturally authentic, Islamically grounded solutions.

‘We Cannot Seek Cures from the West That Caused the Disease’

Aynur Sülün, President of HÜDA PAR’s Women and Family Presidency, opened the panel with a firm critique of the Western-inspired legal and cultural systems eroding the sanctity of family life.

"In the past decade, families have been bleeding out,” she said. “Europe’s destructive laws, godless media, and moral subversion have uprooted our values. We are being severed from our fitrah.”

Sülün called on Türkiye to abandon failed Western models and return to Islamic norms: “We must stop seeking solutions from the very sources of our crisis. Our path must be charted by the Qur’an and Sunnah, not by foreign conventions and imported ideologies.”

Statistics Reveal a Moral Crisis

Sülün presented striking data showing the moral decay gripping the nation. Divorce rates have surged from 3% in 2014 to 5% in 2024, while marriage rates have fallen from 7.72 to 6.65 per thousand. Over 19 million youth remain unmarried despite reaching suitable age.

She condemned Türkiye’s continued use of the outdated Swiss-based Civil Code of 1926 and the UN’s CEDAW agreement, calling them alien constructs imposed to deform—not reform—Muslim society.

Istanbul Convention Accused of Fueling Family Breakdown

Sülün linked the Istanbul Convention, signed in 2011, to rising societal violence. “Rather than shielding women, this treaty has glorified immorality and criminalized the natural Islamic family structure,” she declared.

Law No. 6284, passed in 2012, was also criticized for being anti-family and anti-male. “It automatically casts men as abusers and turns the home into a battlefield. Meanwhile, the real dangers—alcoholism, prostitution, moral decay—are ignored,” she warned.

Islamic Family System: The Divine Solution

Sülün called for a complete legislative transformation: “Only the Islamic model provides a balanced, just structure where women, men, and children are honored and protected. We must re-establish this framework to preserve our ummah.”

MP Ramanlı: Immorality Must Be Met with Lawful Force

HUDA PAR Batman MP Serkan Ramanlı followed with a presentation of their draft family protection bill. “We are not merely defending the family rhetorically. We are offering firm legislative remedies,” he said.

He warned of a dangerous ideological invasion through civil society and media: “Moral corruption and perversions are being normalized, yet no meaningful deterrents exist. We must legislate against these poisons.”

Ramanlı proposed prison sentences of up to eight years for public indecency and same-sex propaganda, emphasizing that Türkiye’s laws must reflect Islamic morality.

He also condemned the media regulator RTÜK for failing to curb harmful broadcasts: “Daytime TV is dynamite under our homes. We must outlaw shows that defile our values.”

Only Islam Can Anchor the Legal System

Ramanlı argued that Türkiye’s current legal code is disconnected from its Islamic heritage. “Only a law anchored in divine revelation can shield women and families from harm,” he said. “It is not Islam but spiritual emptiness that breeds violence.”

Family: A Divine Institution Under Siege

Educator-Writer Özkan Yaman delivered a profound presentation, rooted in Quran and Hadith, affirming the family as a divine institution ordained by Allah for all creation. “The family is part of the fitrah, placed by Allah in every living being,” he said, referencing Quran (49:13) to highlight the universal sanctity of family bonds. Yaman warned that rejecting the family stems from either ignorance or shaytan’s influence, pointing to the West’s moral collapse as evidence. “In America, England, and Germany, families have been destroyed by kufr and immorality,” he stated, noting the near-absence of marriage among non-Muslims in these societies.

Yaman credited the Quran for preserving family structures in Muslim communities, from Arabs to Kurds and Turks. He contrasted Islam’s elevation of women—through rights to inheritance and dignity in Quran (4:19)—with historical injustices in other cultures, such as India’s exclusion of women from inheritance or Europe’s sale of “women-beating sticks” until the 1900s. “The West governs by borrowing from the Quran’s wisdom but denies its source,” he said.

Yaman proposed a bold, Islam-centric vision to revive the family, including mandatory Quranic education on family values in schools, daily mosque teachings by imams, and media campaigns glorifying marriage as an act of worship. He suggested appointing “family imams” for every household, displaying Quranic verses on family unity across cities, and requiring couples to memorize 10 verses and hadiths to marry. “We are in a battle to save the family from shaytan’s fire,” Yaman declared, urging tax exemptions for those facilitating marriages and a societal mobilization to uphold Allah’s command in Quran (24:32): “Marry those among you who are single.”

‘If I Had Power, I’d Rebuild Society on the Family’

In a stirring finale, Yaman proposed radical societal reforms: “If I were a leader, I’d fill every airwave with Qur’anic teachings on family. I’d make family education compulsory. We are at war. The family is burning. Only bold, Islamic solutions can save us.”

The panel closed with unified calls to abandon destructive foreign ideologies and restore the family upon the unshakable foundation of Islam, ensuring the preservation of future generations and divine order in society.

The panel, attended with fervent devotion, resonated deeply with the Muslim community in Batman, who expressed alarm at the threats to the Islamic family model. HUDA PAR’s leaders called on the Ummah to unite in this spiritual struggle, supporting the proposed law and rejecting secular ideologies that contradict Allah’s guidance.

The event framed the family as the last fortress of faith, urging believers to uphold Quran and Sunnah against the tide of Westernization and moral decay. As Türkiye faces rising divorces and declining marriages, the panel positioned Islam as the only path to restore harmony, protect women, and ensure the Ummah’s future under Allah’s divine protection. (ILKHA)