Moderated by Dr. Bahar Baser, the fifth episode of ELIAMEP-Medyascope Media Series focused on “Youth Politics and Activism in Turkey” with Ayhan Kaya, Dr. Bilge Yabancı and Dr. Haydar Darıcı as guests.
The fifth of seven-episode ELIMED webinar series, which is a media and information project presented by Center for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) and supported by Mercator Foundation and German Federal Foreign Ministry, was aired on 4 October at Medyascope’s YouTube channel.
Dr. Bahar Başer who is an Associate Professor ar Durham University’s School of Government and International Affairs kicked off the discussion while pointing out the importance of young voters at Turkey’s upcoming general elections.
The first speaker Ayhan Kaya, who’s a professor of political sciences at Istanbul Bilgi University, gave brief information regarding forms of conventional and unconventional politics in relation with the Turkish youth. He underlined that the Turkish youth has moved from conventional ways of politics, such as voting and running for office, to unconventional ways like organizing protests or boycotting elections under AKP’s rule.
Dr. Bilge Yabancı, who’s a Global Marie Curie fellow at Northwestern University and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, focused on civil society organizations involved in youth politics. Dr. Yabancı categorized such organizations informed the speakers about how and where they work.
The last of four speakers, Dr. Haydar Darıcı who’s a postdoctoral fellow in Kurdish Studies at American University in Washington DC looked at the debate through the perspective of young Kurds in Turkey. Touching upon the activism of young Kurds, Dr. Darıcı underlined that those people’s interactions with the police during protests, their witnessing of the failure of Turkey’s peace process with the Kurds, and their efforts to conserve their identity play a significant role in their participation in politics.
The fourth episode of ELIMED webinar series had focused on “Value-based opposition against authoritarianism.”
