Turkey’s leader claims Eurovision Song Contest is a threat to family values

Mr Erdogan on Monday also decried a serious decline in birth rates in Turkey as an “existential threat” and a “disaster” for the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Ahmad Al-Rubaye /Pool Photo via AP)

Turkey’s president has taken a swipe at the Eurovision Song Contest, accusing the annual event of encouraging “gender neutralisation” and threatening the traditional family.

In a speech following a Cabinet meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan described participants at the contest as the “Trojan horses of social corruption” and said his government was right to keep Turkey out of the pan-European pop competition since 2012.