ABSTRACT
From the beginning of the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the role accorded to youth in the official discourse was that of a “founding pioneer” responsible for defending Republican values and the “well-being” and interests of the nation. Since the 1990s, however, there has been a shift in the representation; the youth have become viewed as a “socially vulnerable group” whose problems must be addressed by social policy programs and socioeconomic development projects.1 Certainly, the transformation of the perception of youth, a very large and significant social category, in both public and official discourse reflects greater socioeconomic and political changes in Turkey. Not only the Turkish state and Turkish political organizations but also the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund, and national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have increasingly influenced the debates on youth and youth’s problems.
