Members of the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), whose founding members include Bilal Erdoğan, the son of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Friday the call to prayer marks a renewed intention to complete the Ottoman Empire’s unfinished conquest of Vienna, reported Turkish daily Cumhuriyet on Friday.

“The call to prayer for us is a renewal of the intention to conquer Rome, New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Paris and to complete the unfinished conquest of Vienna,” TÜGVA said in a statement condemning women who hit the streets for the March 8 International Women’s Day march in Istanbul.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had earlier accused women who participated in the women's march of being disrespectful to Islam.

The Turkish president called the women “enemies of the Islamic call to prayer and the Turkish flag” after pro-government daily Yeni Şafak published a video it says showed the marchers booing as the call the prayer sounded.

A statement by the youth foundation's Women and Family Coordination Office said the call to prayer was a “red line of all Muslims” and women protesting the call to prayer were “sickening flies”.

TÜGVA has obtained a dominant position in the education and student dormitory sector, and many say this has been achieved thanks to support from the government.

Reports have revealed that various foundations with close government ties, including TÜGVA, enjoyed an exorbitant amount of donations from the state. Among other favourable treatments like low-rent contracts and by-laws paving the way for foundations which are approved by the president Erdoğan to acquire public land free of any cost, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality granted 74,3 million lira ($13.9 million) to TÜGVA in 2018 and previous years.