THE GEZİ PARK PROTESTS AND YOUTH IN TURKEY:PERCEPTION OF HÜRRİYET COLUMNISTS

This study aims to evaluate how the columnists ofHürriyet(Liberty),one of themost sold national dailies in Turkey,characterized the role of youth in theGeziPark protests.The protests started on May 28, 2013 in Istanbul. The protestersinitially stood up against an urban development plan that would have resulted inthe park’s demolition. However, the protests, fueled by a disproportionatelyaggressive response by the police, soon turned intoan anti-government movementall around the country with no centralized leadership. Youth served as thelocomotive of the protests, using social media extensively for organizationalpurposes. Their main concern was to fight against intrusions on their lives. Thisresearch focuses on the first three weeks of the so-called ‘Gezi Park protests’. AlltheHürriyetcolumnists, except four who are usually preoccupied with subjectsother than politics, wrote more than 50 percent oftheir articles on the Gezi Parkprotests. However, 32 percent of these made no mention of youth in thesewritings, and only 12 percent mentioned youth in half or more of their writings.Quantitatively speaking, columnists did not place significant emphasis on theposition of youth. Theprotests constitute an urban movement, started by youngpeople, and supported by the middle class