Young Turkish voters openly reject Erdogan

Currently, everyone in Turkey is talking about "Generation Z", a term that refers to those young people born around the turn of the millennium. 

It is a generation that knows no other Turkey than one ruled by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP). And it is also a generation of digital natives who like to spend lots of time on social media.

Since then, Generation Z has become the object of study. Essentially, the group consists of anyone born between the years 1995 and 2010.

Estimates suggest that some 13 million young Turks fit into that group and that they could play a key role in future elections. Many will soon be able to vote for the first time but no one really knows just how they tick.

Recently, young Turks gave the president a taste of their disapproval as only they can. When Erdogan took to YouTube on the day before the exam for a "Meet with the kids" event, the nice words he used to address these potential voters fell on deaf ears.

In fact, the youth tuning in were quick to voice their anger. Thousands blasted Erdogan, taunting him with real-time comments, only to then move on to the next platform — like Twitter, where they railed further and launched the hashtag campaign #OyMoyYok (Not getting my vote), which proceeded to spread like wildfire.

Analysts believe this generation will be a decisive factor in the 2023 parliamentary elections," says Murat Gezici. He says young voters will make up about 12% of the electorate, and can thus dictate some of the issues debated during the election, namely those of fairness and income.

According to government statistics office, youth unemployment (ages 15-24) in the country has been hovering around 25% for months. That is why many qualified young Turks are simply leaving the country and heading to Europe, starting a brain drain that could have grave long-term consequences for the Turkish job market.

Millions of young Turks will soon be of voting age and President Erdogan wants to win them over. Yet many of the country's youth feel rebellious and openly reject him. In light of Turkey's ongoing economic crisis, it seems highly unlikely that young voters will find anything inspiring in Erdogan's AKP.