Shayan: On October 4th, 2023, the International Relations and Diplomacy Department organized an international workshop on “Youth Politics, Opportunities and Challenges for Mobilization: Turkey and Algeria.” The workshop began with a welcome address by the Head of the IRD Department, Dr. Mohammad Salih Mustafa, and the moderator, Dr. Basiru Musa, introduced the two distinguished speakers, Dr. Bahar Baser, Durham University, and Dr. Jessica Northey from Coventry University, United Kingdom. The first distinguished speaker, Dr. Bahar Baser, made a presentation on “Youth Politics and Activism in Turkey,” where she took the audience through the historical trajectory and state of youth politics and activism in Turkey. She stated that in 2018, polls showed that 80% of young people had no interest in politics. Another poll by Turkey Report in 2022 showed that 58% of them would not join a political movement or party “to try and build a better society to live in.” However, Turkish youth have played an active and dynamic role in their country’s political landscape since its foundation. Like young people worldwide, they have actively engaged in political discussions and joined various social and political movements to express their concerns and work towards bringing about change. She concluded that the democratic space needs to be opened and expanded for the youth, given their potential to contribute to national, regional, and international development.
The second distinguished speaker, Dr. Jessica Northey, made a presentation on “The Algerian Hirak: Youth Politics, Opportunities and Challenges for Mobilization,” where she explained the state of youth politics and activism in Algeria and, more importantly, the Hirak movement peaceful youth mobilization of 2019, which helped in raising the collective voice of the youth and also impacted positively on changing people’s mindsets towards politics and even environmental protection and sustainability. She concluded by acknowledging the challenges that youth in Algeria face, with a call on them not to relent in their efforts until the democratic space is made to have a level playing field.
The distinguished speakers gave the following recommendations:
- Legal reform to amend certain laws or constitutional provisions that limit active youth political participation.
- Formulation and implementation of favorable youth empowerment policies and programs.
- Enhancing the role of civil society organizations.
- Ensuring democratic equality and freedom of the press.
- Promotion and protection of the Rule of Law.
The Q&A session followed, where the speakers adequately answered all the questions asked by participants, including TIU academics, international participants, and students. Finally, certificates of appreciation and gifts from the University were given to the two distinguished speakers by the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, Mr. Karwan Sherwani.
