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There’s a solid debate on Turkish twitter about why young Turks want to emigrate. @cemseymen kicked it off, imploring young people to stay, lay down their mobile phones and join civil society to elicit change. Here is why I completely disagree with him.
@cemseymen Before I start, I respect Cem Bey and hope he views this as constructive criticism. But his typification of Turkish youth as phone-obsessed wastrels is the same as avocado-based millennial bashing around the world. It misunderstands why young Turks are so miserable.
@cemseymen What the older generation in Turkey don’t realise is quite how tough it is to be young in Turkey right now. Youth unemployment is at record levels. If you do get a job, you’re expected to work for next to nothing for hours that would make sweat shops envious.
@cemseymen In the 1980s, 1990s or even 2000s, you could buy an apartment on a state official or teacher’s salary. Now, you would need to be VP and above at a major multinational to even get started or run your own, extremely successful business.
@cemseymen The older generation that decries younger Turks as technology-fueled got to “retire” at 50 or even 40 and then continue working with an additional pension till the day they die. This generation will probably work until the day they drop.
@cemseymen This story of intergenerational inequality applies around the world but Turkey has an extra few problems which make being young awful. If life was a computer game, there are many countries that would be Expert level but Turkey is definitely one of the Hard ones.
@cemseymen Being the best at your job or in your field is nowhere near enough in Turkey. You have to know someone who can get you through interview processes that reward party loyalty – we have to empathize with the talented kid who can’t see their talents ever being recognized.
@cemseymen Or consider what it means to join civil society to attempt change in Turkey. The news is daily filled with imprisonment, closures, persecution and otherization – empathize with the kid that just wants to live a simple life where their choices actually matter.
@cemseymen Living in Turkey was incredibly tiring. Politics was ever-constant, the voices of familiar politicians dominating every social and private space. There was always this effort to pull apart at societal bonds, as though someone was trying to break the nation just to rebuild it.
@cemseymen When you're young, life is already complex enough. You want to find your place in the world but it's incredibly difficult to do that when the entire country is trying to find its own place in the world, often to your own personal detriment.
@cemseymen If you’re talented, if you have the energy of youth, if you have the opportunity, if you have dreams and aspirations, why wouldn’t you want to seek a place without chaos? Without constant politics. Without nepotism. Without this constant accusation that you don’t belong.
@cemseymen So I disagree with Cem Bey, just as I disagree with most Baby Boomers who find fault in the youth of today. Being young in the 21st century is tough everywhere. In Turkey, it’s incredibly tiring and often hopeless. Seeking alternatives is the most natural thing you could do.
@cemseymen P.S. Older people in Turkey can’t exactly moan about young people fiddling with their mobile phones. I have never seen a more Facebook- and Whatsapp-obsessed group than Turkey teyzes and amcas.
