Youth in Turkey report: 73 percent want to live abroad

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - File

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Germany-based Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Association has published its "Turkey Youth 2021 report" in Turkish and German.

The newly published data about the attitudes, opinions, expectations, preferences and composition of young people in Turkey have shown "a pessimistic outlook for a dissatisfied and frustrated youth."

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Turkey conducted the research assessing and analyzing the social and political attitudes and opinions of the youth in a representative study. The research has shed light on the perception of the youth in Turkey on politics, participation, activism and international politics, as well as analyzes their cultural, religious, and social preferences.

The target population of the KAS research is the individuals between 18-25 years old. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) there are nearly 7 million people in this age group in Turkey.

According to the research, while nearly 73 percent of the youth want to live abroad if they have the chance, 48 percent of them say that "they do not trust the President at all". Taken together with the ones who say "I don't trust him", the latter rate adds up to 58.5 percent.

While the full English version of the report is expected to be released in March, the KAS has shared the following highlights from the report:

'A pessimistic outlook on future'

"The Turkish youth is increasingly speaking out and articulating their interests and demands not only among themselves, but also increasingly to the broader society. The majority of young people in Turkey tend to have a pessimistic outlook on the future of Turkey. 62.8 percent of the respondents stated that they do not see the future of Turkey well.

Those who stated that they are completely hopeless about the future of Turkey is 35.2 percent.

"The Turkish youth has an especially pessimistic outlook towards the economic situation and their own life mainly focused on the cost of living, inflation and the fear of a potential economic collapse.

"A significant majority of the respondents (72.9 percent) therefore stated that they would like to live in another country if given the opportunity.

"Politicians, political parties and journalists are not trusted (only 3.7 percent, 4.4 percent and 6.9 percent) while scientists (70.3 percent) and the military (61.8 percent) still tend to be perceived as trusted institutions for the majority of the respondents.

"There is little trust in the country's basic institutional structures like the presidency (19,4 percent) and the justice system (11,9 percent).

Outlook on gender equality, symbols, values

"The overwhelming majority (80 percent) of the respondents believes women and men are equal and think romantic relationships between women and men before marriage is normal (92,3 percent) displaying a liberal and open-minded youth. Moreover, family (96,6 percent) and friends (82,9 percent) are very important to the respondents.

"The data shows a nationalistic young society that considers the national symbols like the Turkish flag (89,7 percent), the Turkish Republic as an institution (87,4 percent) and being a Turk (71,6 percent) to be overwhelmingly important. Being a Muslim (70,5 percent) also continues to be very important for a large majority of the respondents.

"Yet, the rate of those who say they believe in god and describe themselves as pious is 29.8 percent while the ones who say they believe in god but do not consider themselves as pious is 56,9 percent.

'20 percent admire no political leader'

"When asked about the leader they admire and appreciate the most, among the politicians who are currently political party leaders in Turkey, 'none of them' (20,1 percent) came first. In the second place, the name of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was given with a rate of 16,8 percent. When given the option to name somebody not included on the list, 16,3 percent of the participants answered with the name of Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş.

"The large majority of the questioned Turkish youth (80,4 percent) think the refugee policy of the government is not right one and must be changed. More than half of the respondents (56.8 percent) want the Syrians to be sent back when there is peace in Syria."

About the research

KAS Turkey conducted this research assessing and analyzing the social and political attitudes and opinions of the youth in Turkey in a representative study. The research sheds light on the perception of Turkey's youth on politics, participation, activism and international politics, as well as analyzes their cultural, religious, and social preferences.

With data from 28 provinces and 3,243 face-to-face questionnaires based on 100 questions, the TURKISH YOUTH 2021 study provides a comprehensive and representative overview of the major trends, structural composition and opinions of the young generation in Turkey.

Its detailed analysis will enable policy-makers, journalists and academics to better understand the sociological composition of the so-called "Generation Z" (1997-2005) and the young part of "Generation Y" (1981-1996) and their views on politics and society.

In the next general elections in 2023, roughly 5 million new voters from the "Generation Z" will join the electorate. This represents an estimated 10 percent of the eligible voters. Understanding this important part of the electorate is vital in understanding the Turkey of tomorrow.

Methodology

The study was commissioned by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Turkey and conducted and written by Prof. Dr. Ali Çağlar (Hacettepe Üniversitesi Ankara) and a team of experts across Turkey.

The Turkish Youth 2021 study is based on a representative sample of 3,243 young people aged 18 to 25 who were interviewed face-to-face by pollsters about their life situation, their political and social attitudes, opinions, preferences, expectations and orientations in 28 provinces which are representative of the whole of Turkey. The data of the study was collected from the field between 20th of May and 10th of September 2021. The target population of the research is the individuals between 18-25 years old.

About the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Turkey:

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a Germany-based political foundation with offices in more than 120 countries.

The work of KAS Turkey started in 1985 and includes a variety of programs with different domestic and international stakeholders building strong partnerships along the way and fostering Germany-Turkey, respectively Europe-Turkey relations with the aim of bringing Turkey closer to European structures and institutions and strengthening its transatlantic ties. (HA/SD)