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A succession of controversial comments made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan sparked protests in Turkey. A few days ago, marking international women’s day, Erdogan said that “women are above all else mothers”, which marks a series of controversial statements by Erdogan on women’s issues and gender roles, after his famous input on the “treason” that are birth control policies, and how women must have at least three children.

Now the torch has been passed on to his wife, who a day after Erdogan’s most recent statement, praised the Ottoman Harem as a “school for preparing women for life.”

Although harems were indeed schools for women, they are criticized for their degrading treatment of women, many of whom were kept as slaves.

Erdogan and the first lady have come under fire in the past for promoting Ottoman principles in secular Turkey and attempting to curtail women’s civil liberties.

“I know there will be some who will be annoyed, but for me a woman is above all a mother,” he told an audience of women in Ankara on International women’s day, going on to criticize capitalism for its enslavement of women in pursuit of profits. The president also caused anger by saying that women are not equal to men.

These comments come as Turkey is attempting to strike a deal with the EU where its citizens can enter the EU without visas, in exchange for taking backs all migrants landing in Greece. The first lady’s comments on Harems raise concerns over Turkey’s attitude towards human rights and its treatment of refugees. If this goes badly, then the deal could become illegal under international law.

A November EU report reveals that Turkey’s progress in joining the EU was damaged by its criminal cases against journalists and writers, and its intimidation of media outlets, as last Friday Turkish police raided the offices of Zaman, a widely circulated newspaper critical of the Turkish government.