Abstract
Youth work is a very recent field in Turkey and the evolution of the field has been very much influenced by the European institutions, especially with the European Union candidacy process of Turkey. Youth work in Turkey can be analyzed in three different layers since the central government, local government (municipalities) and civil society organization all have youth work activities. During our Horizon 2020 PARTISPACE research project, we conducted ethnographic research to shed light on the local characteristics of youth work in a central Anatolian city in Turkey. The cases we discuss in the scope of this paper based on our ethnographic research includes two youth centers, one run by a central government agency, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the other by a local municipality run by the party of opposition. The study reveals the influence of local dynamics and political competition in the development of youth policy and youth work. Our research demonstrates that, even if youth work is not a priority in the public policy agenda, it has become an object of political competition in Turkey.
Highlights
Youth work emerged in Turkey with the European Union (EU) candidacy process
We already know that historical, cultural and political contexts influence the framework of youth work and in the European context where the youth work has a longer history and is more institutionalized we see a certain diversity
Our ethnographic research makes this rivalry become visible since this political competition is going on between two youth centres situated on the same avenue
Summary
Youth work emerged in Turkey with the EU candidacy process. Youth-oriented services identified as youth work and youth workers claiming to provide these services start to appear within different settings: within youth centers established by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, within youth centers established by local administrations, and within civil society structures. The responsibilities of the Ministry related to youth include more general objectives as well, such as providing support to young people and promoting their participation through providing services such as guidance, access to information, and counseling; to establish coordination and cooperation with other public institutions on issues related to youth; to conduct research; and to determine the basic methods and principles on youth including directly carrying out projects In line with these objectives, a structure that recently proliferated are youth centers, which employ professional youth workers. The conservative and nationalist political orientation of the party in power at the time of the implementation of these centers is reflected in their structure (for youth and education policies in Turkey see (Lüküslü 2016)) Even if these structures are administratively linked to the Ministry, we observed during our fieldwork that they benefit from other public institutions resources as well. The issue of civil society associations will not be discussed within the scope of this paper
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