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RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ
DE RUEHAK #3651/01 1721107
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211107Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
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INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUCNNAF/NORTH AF NEA AND SOUTH ASIAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0893
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0837
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003651 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON SCUL SOCI TU
SUBJECT: TURKISH YOUTH: DEMOGRAPHICS AND IDENTITY 
 
 
ANKARA 00003651  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF THREE CABLES ABOUT TURKISH 
YOUTH COMPILED BY FIRST- AND SECOND-TOUR OFFICERS THROUGHOUT 
MISSION TURKEY. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Nearly three-quarters of Turkey's 
population is under the age of 35.  To better understand this 
increasingly important cohort, Mission Turkey's first- and 
second-tour officers conducted several months of outreach, 
meeting with young people throughout the country and 
discussing their attitudes on a wealth of topics.  This cable 
introduces the series with a demographic overview of the 
group.  Among the most striking findings in the data were the 
high rates of youth unemployment and extremely low rates of 
high school and university enrollment in the east and 
southeastern provinces.  The two subsequent cables will 
detail what we learned about youth attitudes toward politics, 
religion, economics, the United States, and Turkey's role in 
the world.  End summary. 
 
------------------- 
POPULATION OVERVIEW 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to Turkish Policy Quarterly, nearly 75 
percent of Turkey's population is under the age of 35.  The 
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that 47 
percent of the population is under the age of 24, and the 
U.S. Library of Congress puts the under-14 segment of the 
population at 26 percent.  Like the country's population 
overall, the youth population is concentrated in Istanbul, 
Ankara, and Izmir, as well as in Turkey's many smaller 
cities.  In most of the country, birth rates have come down 
over the past 20 years.  In the east and southeast, however, 
anecdotal evidence suggests that families continue to have 
high birth rates, with up to ten children.  In the 
southeastern provinces of Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir, for 
example, the percentage of the population under age 35 is 
closer to 80 percent.  Their absorption into the economy 
poses a major economic, social, and political challenge. 
 
--------- 
EDUCATION 
--------- 
 
¶3. (U)  The Turkish State Institute of Statistics (TUIK) 
reports that 60.9 percent of young people attend high school. 
 According to TUIK statistics, of the students who took the 
highly competitive university entrance exam in 2002, 28.6 
percent passed.  Overall, 19 percent of Turkish youth attend 
a four-year university, and an additional nine percent take 
part in distance learning.  In the eastern and southeastern 
provinces, these numbers are dramatically lower, with only 
three percent of young people attending a four-year 
university and five percent taking part in distance learning. 
 Because of economic conditions, many families in the eastern 
and southeastern provinces do not have the resources to send 
their children to secondary school or to specialized schools 
(dershanes) that prepare them for the university entrance 
exam. 
 
------------ 
UNEMPLOYMENT 
------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) A 2006 World Bank Labor Market Study reported that 
unemployment is extremely high among educated young people in 
Turkey.  For university graduates age 20-24, the unemployment 
rate is 39 percent.  For 25-to-29-year-olds with a university 
degree, the rate is 15 percent.  Overall, the unemployment 
rate for males aged 15-34 is 21.6 percent, and 22.6 percent 
for females.  Turkish youth told us that underemployment is 
also a huge problem for them.  TUIK reports that 
underemployment for youth age 15-24 is four percent, on top 
of the reported unemployment rate.  Widespread anecdotal 
evidence suggests that this far underestimates the extent of 
the problem.  Many young people are identified as "employed," 
when in fact they work for very low wages, or no wages at 
all, in family businesses. 
 
------------------- 
VALUES AND IDENTITY 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Faruk Demir, president of Ankara-based think tank 
Gelecek which reports on trends in youth identity and values, 
told us that three values are of increasing importance to the 
young population: social nationalism, nationalist Islam, and 
 
ANKARA 00003651  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Islamism.  He explained that social nationalism represents 
anger or resentment toward other nations and emphasizes 
Turkey's power in the region.  Nationalist Islam, Demir said, 
is an emphasis on a combination of national values and Muslim 
values, and is caused by what some see as an unhealthy 
relationship between the state and the individual.  He told 
us that those who value Islamism put Islamic values ahead of 
traditional "Turkish values" and emphasize Turkey's 
connections with the Middle East over western connections. 
Demir also told us that Kurdish nationalism is on the rise 
among the young Kurdish population in Turkey's southeastern 
provinces. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The English Language Fellows (ELFs) posted in 
Trabzon and Eskisehir told us that their students identified 
themselves as Turks first, and Muslims second.  (Note: ELFs 
are USG-funded English instructors who teach English in a 
variety of cities throughout Turkey.)  When asked what being 
"Turkish" meant, leaders of the Istanbul-based youth group 
Yeni Nesil (New Generation) told us that it was a "packet of 
values," including loyalty, hospitality, caring about others, 
and tolerance. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In June 2006, Erzurum Ataturk University's Faculty 
of Economic and Administrative Sciences conducted a survey of 
university students country-wide on a variety of topics, 
including identity.  When asked about nationalist sentiment, 
nearly half of all students surveyed identified themselves as 
either "very close" or "close" to this feeling. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Turkey's population is heavily weighted toward young 
people, but the GOT's successful macroeconomic policies have 
yet to translate into sufficient job creation to absorb the 
waves of young people entering the work force.  The sheer 
numbers of young people entering the work force poses an 
enormous challenge to policy makers.  With nationalism and 
Islamism increasing among the youth, the GOT needs to focus 
as well on reforming its educational system to provide 
higher-level schooling to a larger percentage of the 
population.  If left unaddressed, the vast lack of 
educational opportunities for students, particularly in the 
east and southeast, is a political, economic, and social time 
bomb that will add to the existing alienation and 
hopelessness in that region. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON