Riot police detain a demonstrator during a protest against the dismissal of academics from universities following a post-coup emergency decree, outside the Cebeci campus of Ankara University. 10 February 2017. Depo Photos/Zuma Press/PA Images. All rights reserved.While Turkey’s recent political and social events have received a lot of media attention and are particularly disturbing, it is important to remember that many of Turkey’s citizens have spent their whole lives under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and are in fear of its discriminatory attitudes towards passive and active opposition.
Young citizens are experiencing an emotional break-off from Turkey. They are becoming apathetic and distant from their country, bewildered by its politics and paralyzed by the feeling that they cannot change anything. They are slowly separating themselves from politics, from social life, and from the country’s problems.
With the recent economic slump and the failure of its policies abroad - in particular its policies towards the Syrian civil war - rising totalitarian mentality has shown its face in Turkey to anyone who opposes the government’s actions. Beginning in 2013, a strong wave of social opposition has shown the ruling party that their policies are not accepted by a big part of society; a realization that they have attempted to deny, beat down and repress.
