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The national context lays the ground for the possibilities of success for the project. Both the general political context and the situation within the Youth policy field is described below.
3.1 Political and economical conditions of the country
The current constitution in Turkey was taken through a referendum in 1982. The country was at the point lead by the high-general Kenan Evren who had seized the power after a military coup in 1980. The constitution gives the president among others the power to dismiss the parliament and auspicate new elections. It is also the presidents’ duty to appoint the prime minister, high ranked judges and the chief for the state bank. The president is elected by the parliament for a seven years period. The current president, Abdullah Gül who is a member of the ruling party AKP – Justice and development party, was elected 2007 after months of debates in the country. There was a fear from the political opposition that AKP would lead Turkey to a non-secular Islamic country. The protestors were strongly linked to the vision of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was the Republic of Turkeys first president from 1923 to his death 1938. Atatürk separated religion from state politics, the opposite to what the Ottoman Empire had done before him. He replaced e.g. the written Arabic language with the Latin alphabet and banned some vestments.
AKP became the first ruling party in Turkey’s modern history that increased its popularity after the first period in office. The party leader Recep Taayip Erdogan was re-elected as the prime minister 2007 with 47% of the votes. The second biggest party was the Kemalists, CHP – Republican People’s Party; they got 21% of the votes. The third party in the parliament is the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) that got 14%. Lack of other parties in the parliament is basically due to the election threshold of 10%. Because of this there were 28 seats won by people that decided to run for office without representing a party. The Parliament has 550 parliamentarians and they are representing all the 81 provinces in the country. The members are elected every five years in the national elections.
Another influential decision unit is the national security council. The council consist of the president, prime minister and the chiefs for the important military units. This group have the ultimate power in the country and was established after the military coups in the 1960, 1971 and 1980.
The Turkish economy is a mix of modern industry and commerce alongside with traditional agriculture that still accounts for more than 35% of the country’s employment opportunities. The largest industrial sector is textile and clothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment. The GDP growth in the country is roughly 5% at the moment and the inflation level 2005 (7,7%) was the lowest rate in 30 years. The economic fundamentals are solid, marked by a strong economic growth and foreign direct investments. The up-going foreign investments the recent years have also given a negative effect on the local market where many local companies have gone bankrupt because of the establishments of big multinational companies. The financial conditions differs between different regions of the country, the western parts are financially and politically stable while the eastern parts suffers from high unemployment rates and political unrest.
The political future for Turkey is uncertain. There is a course in the country where the popularity for a EU-membership has decreased. This is mainly because of the slow accession negotiation process and that EU wants more than what Turkey is able to and would like to offer. Public opinion is also affected by the current situation regarding AKP’s dominance in party politics and the suspiciousness of their hidden “Islamic agenda”. These ideas have divided the country in three big groups, the Islamists, the Kemalists and the ones that wants to join the European Union.
3.2 The current situation within the youth policy field in Turkey
Two thirds of the Turkish population is under the age of 30. In spite of this, youth work and youth policy is not widely developed. Except for the student movements that has existed in Turkey for some time the country has a short history of youth work and youth policy. In the current constitution there are only two references to youth; the state shall offer youth education and development and the state shall protect youth from alcohol, drugs, gambling and ignorance.
There are 14 state institutions which are occupied with youth in different ways. Each institution in charge of a specific policy area, such as employment or health, has the mandate for young people too but youth are seldom considered as a specific target group. The state institutions are not formally connected to each other regarding youth issues and there is no cooperation that provides an overall picture for the state of youth in Turkey.
The only institution that is working for, with and by youth is the Youth Services Department (YSD). YSD is a department under the General Directorate of Youth and Sports which is headed by the Minister of youth affairs; Mehmet Atalay. The YSD is in charge of all the governors for youth and sports who in turn has the mandate to propose measures for youth on the provincial level. Municipalities also has a responsibility for youth, however, so far there has been little or no cooperation between governors and municipalities and the lack of a structured youth policy sometimes results in inefficiency. The same measures may be taken by two actors at the same time with no coordination between the two.
Through the provincial directors, YSD is in charge of youth centers in all provinces of the country and is thus the only institution with a country-wide mandate to stimulate youth policy and activities for youth. A programme called HEPiBIZ aims to create activities that strengthens the development of criteria for youth work and youth policy. Within this programme trainings have been organised both for provincial directors and young people themselves.
For a few years the Minister of youth and Sports have spoken about the reorganisation of the General Directorate for Youth and Sports. The issues relating to youth may be separated from the field of Sports. A suggestion to the parliament is still on referral and it has not reached the parliament yet.
Youth NGO’s exist in Turkey, but there is little cooperation between these organisations and there is no umbrella organisation that mobilise youth NGO’s in the same direction. However, with the help of the EU programme “Youth in Action” tools are in place for youth NGO’s to apply for funding and carry out activities in their taste. |
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(2008-04-08) An interview with Emmy Bornemark, project manager for the swedish-Turkish cooperation ... |
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The activity named “General workshop on youth unemployment” was implemented in 10-14 November 2008 in Ankara.www.gereksinim.netThey were 29 participants from both countries that were useful both to explain the current situation and best practices in the countries. The participants have learnt many things related to the participated institutions and the goals received on the path to European Union.
General workshop on youth unemployment
10-14 November 2008
29 Participants
