Review of Youth Promises of Political Parties Between 2002-2023
This report, which deals with youth policies through thematic analysis, reviews how youth promises evolved through the elections held during the AKP (Justice and Development Party) administration and examines the impact of the conditions of this period on the changes therein. In this context, we have reviewed the promises of the political parties one by one and identified the prominent themes.
In light of the findings of the report, it is possible to draw general conclusions. Accordingly, first of all, it is understood that youth politics is one of the areas where the polarization that dominates Turkish politics is experienced most severely.
Political parties with ideological engagements that have different and conflicting Türkiye visions see young people as a ready-made crowd that needs to be and could be shaped according to their ideologies, instead of accepting them as individuals and subjects.
In the elections of 2002, 2007 and 2011, when islamic and secular politics confronted each other and the parties were dragged into a growing polarization in the AKP-CHP (Republican People’s Party) rivalry, the parties focused mainly on education policies in line with their ideological motivations.
Education policies are considered as a tool for shaping the values of young people as a whole. In line with their conservative democratic party identity, AKP promises to internalize traditional values in education and to pragmatically integrate young people into globalization through education. CHP advocates strict secularism and modern education. MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), on the other hand, has adopted the mission of indoctrination of national values and Turkish culture.
Meanwhile, the 2013 Gezi Protests were a breaking point that revealed the individuality of young people. As a result of the Gezi Protests and the ensuing demands for freedom, youth promises started to go beyond the field of education. In the 2015 elections, themes such as gender equality, freedom at universities and economic welfare also started to be included in youth promises.
After the 2015 elections, as economic growth in Türkiye has stagnated, inequality has increased and AKP has shifted to an authoritarian-security axis, the voting behavior of young people has started to diverge from the middle and upper age groups. Thus, young people have turned into a group whose voting decisions have become critical for parties. Accordingly, in the 2018 elections, in addition to promises such as education and economy, areas such as freedom of travel and education abroad were among the areas where promises were focused.
Türkiye is preparing for the 2023 elections amidst major problems such as a deepening authoritarian regime, economic depression, migration crisis and housing crisis. With the accelerating brain drain from Tükiye and increasingly visible generational conflicts, promises regarding the youth have become one of the areas where the competition between parties is at the highest level, unlike previous elections.
This is a joint project by Vaat İnceleme Platformu (the Promise Review Platform) and Arayuz Campaign.