Young Quixotes, old windmills
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Sevim Songün
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 29, 2008 00:00
ISTANBUL - The number of young people active in politics is very low in Turkey, despite its high youth population, but a group of university students plan to voice their demands prior to local elections in March. Upon founding an association, the students have started to lobby municipalities firstly for cheaper transport fares.
For a country of young people the average age of politicians is very high and this is reflected in government priorities that ignore the needs of the youth, said a group of university students who have decided to take action.
A group of Istanbul students have formed a pressure group to lobby municipalities prior to local elections in March. The group wants their needs to be taken into account by municipalities and will start lobbying different candidates.
For this purpose, students have founded an association, "Youth Movement" (Gençlik Akımı), to voice their demands, which they believe have been neglected by mayors for too long. "We plan to prepare a petition that will include our specific demands, such as cheaper transport tickets for students," said Adnan Alkış, head of the association. Alkış believes if they can show candidates that university students represent a significant number of voters, they can improve conditions of life for students.
"We expect to get 100,000 signatures from students and this means 100,000 votes for the candidates. They must take our demands into account, too," said Alkış, a senior student from Sabancı University.
Coming from different ethnic, socioeconomic and even ideological backgrounds, eight students founded the association last April, an endeavor that sometimes required courage, dedication and enthusiasm considering the red tape involved in founding an association in Turkey.
"We all come from different backgrounds, but our common thread is our social sensitivity," said Bulut Çavaş, a student from Sabancı University. Although the students are offering to deal with all types of social problems, they have emphasized they are not part of any political party or movement.
Legacy of the coup
Sociologists often talk of how the 1980 military coup led to apolitical generations as youngsters were discouraged from even being interested in politics, let alone taking an active part in it. Their fear about being labeled as part of an ideology is rooted in the highly tense period prior to the coup and the main reason Turkish youth have been largely apolitical for the past 30 years.
"After the coup in 1980, youth were punished for activism. Parents advised their children not to be a member of a party or a political movement. This discouraged young people and led to disorganization among them," said Mustafa Şen, a sociologist from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.
Şen also said the main reason why young people do not participate in politics, despite their numbers in Turkey, relates to the laws on political parties. The non-institutional structure of political parties discourages youngsters, as does the education system and their families.
"In Europe, you can start to work in a political party from the bottom and reach the top at an earlier age than in Turkey. However, our parties do not have such an institutional structure," said Şen, who added the difference between the European Union’s and Turkey’s political structure will cause problems in Turkey’s candidacy period.
"The generations that preceded us left a very bad legacy. We face difficulties in finding more people who can work with us as everyone believes we are part of a political party," said Halil İbrahim Özcan, a senior student in Yıldız Technical University. Even with such reluctance from students, the association already has 33 members.
"According to a recent law on political parties and elections, youth branches of political parties are banned. No political party in Turkey has youth support and politicians do not care about it," said Şen.
The majority sometimes regards being part of an ideological and political group as dangerous. The founders of the Youth Movement feel the pressure of being labeled as a part of political group and hesitate to give political views in general or their own personal views about mayoral candidates.
"We do not want to be labeled as this or that. We want to work for the good of the people," said Özcan, 23.
The public transport system is widely used by students, especially in a city like Istanbul where tens of thousands of people are in traffic every day. University students are demanding a fixed and lower price for using unlimited public transport. "It costs YTL 600 a year to use unlimited public transport for students. We want it to be YTL 120 a year," said Zehra Şahin, a senior mathematics student at Marmara University.
They have initiated other projects in which students can contribute to social welfare. "Many students have pharmaceutical products they do not use and that have not expired. We plan to call on students to donate these products to certain pharmacies who send them to people who cannot afford them," said Hazar Çavaş, another student from Istanbul Bilgi University.
The students are also trying to find other university students who will voluntarily help high school students prepare for the university entrance exams free-of-charge. There are many private institutions that earn good money preparing students for the exams, but the students plan to do this for no cost.
Students to hold power
The students’ definition of power is the key to understanding their worldviews and their views on Turkey’s future.
"To change the wrongs in society and in the system, one has to have money, knowledge, political status, or be a part of a nongovernmental organization. We can be the last one," said Alkış. "We will present the problems and demands of university students to mayors and they cannot ignore them," said Özcan, adding that if their petition is not heard, they may organize further activities to raise their collective voice.
The initiative of the Youth Movement is very positive, said Onur Gökçe, an academic from the international relations department of Ankara Bilkent University. "If we have a real democracy, then it requires freedom of expression for everyone," Gökçe said. "Youngsters are more conscious than before, but they do not have a relevant platform to voice their ideas."
Students should create their own platforms to voice their demands and ideas about governance, Gökçe said. "As with this initiative, students will open doors for themselves by establishing or participating in nongovernmental organizations."
A group of Istanbul students have formed a pressure group to lobby municipalities prior to local elections in March. The group wants their needs to be taken into account by municipalities and will start lobbying different candidates.
For this purpose, students have founded an association, "Youth Movement" (Gençlik Akımı), to voice their demands, which they believe have been neglected by mayors for too long. "We plan to prepare a petition that will include our specific demands, such as cheaper transport tickets for students," said Adnan Alkış, head of the association. Alkış believes if they can show candidates that university students represent a significant number of voters, they can improve conditions of life for students.
"We expect to get 100,000 signatures from students and this means 100,000 votes for the candidates. They must take our demands into account, too," said Alkış, a senior student from Sabancı University.
Coming from different ethnic, socioeconomic and even ideological backgrounds, eight students founded the association last April, an endeavor that sometimes required courage, dedication and enthusiasm considering the red tape involved in founding an association in Turkey.
"We all come from different backgrounds, but our common thread is our social sensitivity," said Bulut Çavaş, a student from Sabancı University. Although the students are offering to deal with all types of social problems, they have emphasized they are not part of any political party or movement.
Legacy of the coup
Sociologists often talk of how the 1980 military coup led to apolitical generations as youngsters were discouraged from even being interested in politics, let alone taking an active part in it. Their fear about being labeled as part of an ideology is rooted in the highly tense period prior to the coup and the main reason Turkish youth have been largely apolitical for the past 30 years.
"After the coup in 1980, youth were punished for activism. Parents advised their children not to be a member of a party or a political movement. This discouraged young people and led to disorganization among them," said Mustafa Şen, a sociologist from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.
Şen also said the main reason why young people do not participate in politics, despite their numbers in Turkey, relates to the laws on political parties. The non-institutional structure of political parties discourages youngsters, as does the education system and their families.
"In Europe, you can start to work in a political party from the bottom and reach the top at an earlier age than in Turkey. However, our parties do not have such an institutional structure," said Şen, who added the difference between the European Union’s and Turkey’s political structure will cause problems in Turkey’s candidacy period.
"The generations that preceded us left a very bad legacy. We face difficulties in finding more people who can work with us as everyone believes we are part of a political party," said Halil İbrahim Özcan, a senior student in Yıldız Technical University. Even with such reluctance from students, the association already has 33 members.
"According to a recent law on political parties and elections, youth branches of political parties are banned. No political party in Turkey has youth support and politicians do not care about it," said Şen.
The majority sometimes regards being part of an ideological and political group as dangerous. The founders of the Youth Movement feel the pressure of being labeled as a part of political group and hesitate to give political views in general or their own personal views about mayoral candidates.
"We do not want to be labeled as this or that. We want to work for the good of the people," said Özcan, 23.
The public transport system is widely used by students, especially in a city like Istanbul where tens of thousands of people are in traffic every day. University students are demanding a fixed and lower price for using unlimited public transport. "It costs YTL 600 a year to use unlimited public transport for students. We want it to be YTL 120 a year," said Zehra Şahin, a senior mathematics student at Marmara University.
They have initiated other projects in which students can contribute to social welfare. "Many students have pharmaceutical products they do not use and that have not expired. We plan to call on students to donate these products to certain pharmacies who send them to people who cannot afford them," said Hazar Çavaş, another student from Istanbul Bilgi University.
The students are also trying to find other university students who will voluntarily help high school students prepare for the university entrance exams free-of-charge. There are many private institutions that earn good money preparing students for the exams, but the students plan to do this for no cost.
Students to hold power
The students’ definition of power is the key to understanding their worldviews and their views on Turkey’s future.
"To change the wrongs in society and in the system, one has to have money, knowledge, political status, or be a part of a nongovernmental organization. We can be the last one," said Alkış. "We will present the problems and demands of university students to mayors and they cannot ignore them," said Özcan, adding that if their petition is not heard, they may organize further activities to raise their collective voice.
The initiative of the Youth Movement is very positive, said Onur Gökçe, an academic from the international relations department of Ankara Bilkent University. "If we have a real democracy, then it requires freedom of expression for everyone," Gökçe said. "Youngsters are more conscious than before, but they do not have a relevant platform to voice their ideas."
Students should create their own platforms to voice their demands and ideas about governance, Gökçe said. "As with this initiative, students will open doors for themselves by establishing or participating in nongovernmental organizations."