The Seventh Family Council held under the auspices of the Turkish Presidency kicked off at the Presidential Complex in Ankara yesterday. A two-day event organized by the country's Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry, the council brings together experts to discuss the preservation of family unity, the perception of children in society, their education and socioeconomic support for families.

In his keynote speech to the council, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said families are the core of civilizations, and strong families are the only way to maintain a strong state and a peaceful society. "Every policy excluding families or dismissing them is a blow to our national structure and problems emerging in families spread to everything, from politics to commerce, from education to bilateral relations between people," he said.

Erdoğan said there were two turning points affecting family structure: mass migration to cities from villages that started in the 1960s and the technology revolution. "The migration to cities significantly changed the traditional family structure, and city life weakened family ties. With the prevalence of the internet and technology, we see problems in our social lives. Technology makes life easier, but it also hurts families. Social media, in particular, has led to serious erosion in our family values," Erdoğan said.