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IRI's Turkey programming, initiated in 1993, has helped strengthen several key institutions of Turkish democracy, namely local governments, political parties and independent civic organizations. Recently, IRI has concentrated on projects to encourage greater participation of women and youth in Turkish politics and civic affairs.
Many of IRI's most successful programs were those conducted in close partnership with Turkish civic organizations. One Turkish association with which IRI worked was integrally involved in organizing a national advocacy program aimed at amending Turkey's law on local government.
Another IRI-supported Turkish organization engaged in a long-term project to develop and promote passage of an amended law on the establishment and regulation of Turkish political parties.
In 1997, IRI intensified its efforts in Turkey and for the first time opened a local office. While continuing with efforts to promote decentralization and reform of the national political party's law, IRI also began working directly with Turkish political parties. IRI focused its efforts on promoting internal party reform, with a particular emphasis on making Turkish parties themselves more democratic and transparent. The closed and hierarchical structure of Turkey's major parties has been a key factor accounting for the general alienation of the Turkish electorate and the growth of non-secular and ethnically-based parties.
IRI training programs emphasized the adoption of rules allowing for more democratic candidate selection processes, open party congresses in which members have the opportunity to elect party leadership, and a more open policy regarding member recruitment. In addition, IRI trained local party activists in grassroots organizing and in the design and implementation of local campaign strategies prior to the April 18, 1999 parliamentary elections.
IRI determined that its limited resources could be put to better use encouraging greater political responsiveness and accountability from outside, rather than from inside Turkey's political establishment. With the realization that nearly 70 percent of the Turkish population is under the age of 35, while the political elite is overwhelmingly older, IRI refocused its programming on projects aimed at encouraging Turkish youth to become more active in the nation's civic and political life and a more effective voice for political reform.
To that end, IRI sponsored a major research project aimed at developing a comprehensive and in-depth political and social profile of Turkish youth (18-28 years of age). A major objective of the study was to identify key barriers to the participation of young Turks in the civic and political life of the country. Following the completion of the research, IRI began conducting a series of conferences nationwide under the slogan "Participate and Create Your Future." The workshops were designed to expose Turkish youth to the results of the survey, encourage dialogue on specific barriers to participation and provide the young participants with the tools to engage in politics and civil society.
These regional workshops were the building blocks of GencNet, which in Turkish literally means "youth net," the banner under which IRI would conduct its youth programming for the next four years. From 2000 through 2002, the regional workshops culminated in national youth conferences in Istanbul, co-sponsored by IRI and the Ari Movement, a Turkish partner organization. The conferences attracted the participation of thousands of young Turkish activists and many established NGOs and received substantial national media coverage.
Another major component of IRI's Participate and Create Your Future project has been the development of the GencNet website. The website has become a nationally recognized symbol for youth activism and participation, as well as an important medium through which young people communicate, share information about local programs and activities, and access information about civic organizations with which they might want to get involved.
In addition to youth programming, IRI has recently worked with partner organizations on a program designed to increase public understanding of the social and economic costs of corruption in Turkey. IRI enjoyed the active participation of Turkey's reform-minded Minister of Interior in the program.
Throughout its 2002-2003 programming cycle, IRI continued to develop its program to encourage youth civic and political participation in Turkey. IRI, together with the Ari Movement, hosted 13 single-day GencNet regional workshops and one weekend-long follow-up workshop with youth from around the country. Greater emphasis was given to problem-solving strategies and the role of the participants in pushing forward community projects in these workshops. GencNet participants this year spent more time working in role-defined committee systems (fundraising, media relations, government liaison, volunteer recruitment, activity design, etc.) than in previous years. This new approach was designed to help the participants take ownership of their projects and to encourage greater project implementation and follow-through.
As a result, GencNet projects around the country have reached advanced stages in improving local transportation, building better relations between university students and their communities, providing tutoring to high school students and promoting economic development through tourism in their communities, among other initiatives.
The GencNet website has become an invaluable tool in coordinating and promoting these projects. The site has continued its ascent as one of Turkey's most popular youth-oriented websites, generating more than 10,000 hits per day. IRI has expansioned of the NGO database, added a weekend news round-up, expanded discussion board features, improved project pages, and daily site updates including original columns, news articles, and profiles of young leaders. The site, therefore, is both a rich source of information for Turkey's youth and a vehicle for their civic and political participation.
In May 2003, IRI co-hosted the fourth annual GencNet National Conference in Istanbul. Nearly 1,000 youths from across Turkey and for the first time a foreign country (Albania) attended the conference to discuss "Youth Vision for Turkey 2023" (the centenary of the Turkish Republic). Participants, selected through an application process that required visionary essays, took part in two days of discussions and workshops with national leaders on a variety of political and social issues. Genc Party Chairman Cem Uzan, chosen to deliver the keynote speech by a poll of GencNet website users, addressed the youth on the major political issues facing the nation and for the first time answered questions from a live audience.
In addition, participants debated local government and higher education policy with panels of experts in two model parliament sessions and communicated their priorities in these policy areas. Other sessions of the conference included a discussion to lower the age of eligibility for election to the Turkish Parliament to 25 years old and recognized successful GencNet local project teams.
The final event of the conference was an NGO fair, with organizations representing environmental groups, exchange programs, youth rehabilitation centers, historical societies, university clubs, and GencNet local project teams in attendance. The fair provided participants with opportunities to learn more about Turkey's NGO community and to get more involved in civil society.
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In 2004, the International Republican Institute (IRI) established a four-week political internship and parliamentary simulation program for Turkish youth, the first of its kind in Turkey. Each summer approximately 100 young people from around the country travel to Ankara to serve in internships with members of parliament, parliamentary commissions, government agencies and political parties and participate in a mock parliament. Interns conduct policy research, write relevant reports and articles, prepare speeches and assist supervisors at meetings, among other substantive tasks. During the mock parliament, which is held in the actual parliament building, participants draft legislation in party group sessions, work in committee and debate and vote on bills in plenary session.
IRI is also engaged in civil society. While many large corporations are familiar with the Turkish corporate donation law, most medium and small businesses are unfamiliar with the potential benefits of supporting nonprofit organizations. In cooperation with Turkish NGOs and the Turkish financial daily Referans, IRI published a booklet for businesses explaining Turkey's corporate donation law, the benefits of donating to an NGO, the types of NGOs that can receive tax-deductible donations and the importance of supporting civic organizations. NGOs in Turkey was distributed as a supplement to Referans's daily edition on May 4, 2006, reaching more than 10,000 subscribers.
