Eylem Ertürk

Youth has both been a priority and a risk group in the modern history of Turkey. Young people need more support in their search, creation and production processes without considering primarily their impact on society. There are a lot of opportunities to develop projects with youth from different socio-economic groups. Especially youth who have few avenues open for them to grow, need support from cultural actors to find ways to express themselves and gain self-confidence. Cultural projects can help these young people develop social and cultural skills that can expand their choices in life. Projects including non-formal training opportunities in mixed environments focusing on culture with an interdisciplinary approach could be life-changing for many young people. The mainstream youth work in Turkey is mainly boiled down to commercial, mobility and exchange projects and education with a focus on career development, either at the national or international level. Although youth has been a working field for a long time, it is not easy to talk about a consistent and long-term youth policy in Turkey. It is hard to find widespread practices and policies of participation for disadvantaged youth in terms of ethnic identity, migration and gender. Any kind of youth work and participatory project needs to be based on the recognition of youth as a heterogeneous group with different participatory behaviours, needs and priorities. This report was compiled within the mapping initiative of the Turkish cultural field by DutchCulture in 2011 and updated comprehensively in 2019 focusing more on giving Dutch cultural practitioners an insight into the Turkish cultural field and its infrastructure to pave the way for future collaborations.