Özet:

There are some claims in the literature that young people are generally indifferent to politics. The aim of this study is to enable young people to express their opinions, requests, and suggestions about such claims. For this purpose, using a qualitative research design; we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 participants between the ages of 18-29 and attending higher education in Ankara. The data is collected with a semi-structured interview form, which was formed by taking expert opinions. The obtained data is analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. In this context, the data was analyzed under three headings: the relationship of young people with politics, the restrictive factors in front of young people’s political participation, and their suggestions to increase political participation. Although there are some who describe themselves as apolitical when describing their relations with politics, most of them stated that there are different ways and interpretations of participation. The limiting factors for the political participation of young people for the participants are as follows; the current image of politics from the eyes of the youth, the polarization in the social sphere, the disbelief that change can be achieved through politics, and the society’s viewpoint towards youth. The participants expressed their opinions, requests, and suggestions about increasing the political participation of young people. Participants’ requests from authorities are as follows; giving young people the right to have a say in matters related to the youth in the country’s administration, establishing a transparent and return-oriented system, making policies covering all segments, enabling youth formations, reducing the impact of politics on daily life, taking universal values as a basis in all circumstances, adopting solution-oriented approaches, adapting to today’s conditions and being open to criticism and development. The following are the suggestions of the participants for the youth; that young people create space for themselves, use social media and the internet as a tool, develop themselves, use NGOs as a tool, be able to approach matters critically based on universal values and express their requests.

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