The defiance of a generation robbed of its future: Erdoğan has no future

Öncü Durmuş

Following the arrest operations targeting İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) after the annulment of İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s diploma, a new threshold has been crossed in the country. Since then, one of the main conclusions has been that the issue is not just about İmamoğlu, the public outrage has merged with the demand for a democratic country.

From the regime’s perspective, this threshold was seen as a step towards consolidating conditions where elections are merely performative, where a one-man rule is institutionalised especially with approval from the US and where even what the opposition may or may not do is dictated by the Palace.

From the people’s side, however, what is happening has proven to be much more than that. The overwhelming majority of society, which until now only came together during election periods around the demand of "we do not want a one-man rule," has this time filled every space of life with the slogan “all together or none of us.” Neighbourhoods and squares echoed with the voices of millions.

This is the briefest summary of what has transpired since 19 March. Now, more determined than ever, the masses emboldened by courage, stand out as the only force capable of shaping the country’s future. So if we go back to the very beginning and ask, how did this transformative power, perhaps Erdoğan’s greatest fear emerge? the majority of society would undoubtedly point to the youth.

When the slogan “AKP to the grave, power to the people” becomes embodied in our future, the first image to be immortalised in the pages of history will be the moment thousands of students at İstanbul University tore down that barricade.

WHAT HAVE THESE YOUNG PEOPLE CREATED?

Then let us also record for history what the youth have accomplished since 19 March:

1 – They created hope: Above all else, the barricade torn down by students sparked a new kind of hope across the country. Something not felt for a very long time. Standing against a one-man rule that was on the verge of collapse yet managed to survive through manoeuvres and external backing, they showed a people who had been waiting for a saviour that they could be the political subjects themselves.

This act of defiance against a regime holding all the power of the state didn’t just challenge authority it recharged the morale of an entire society. In doing so, the youth may well have, as Erdoğan himself once put it, “squeezed the toothpaste out of the tube.” They transformed their belief in toppling a barricade into a belief that the one-man regime itself could be brought down.

2 – They shattered the regime’s legitimacy: They exposed the reality that the ruling bloc, step by step constructing the regime through tools of repression, security-centred policies, bans, and at times direct attacks on the people, no longer holds any real authority. To those attempting to govern by confronting the public, they delivered the clearest message possible: “You have no legitimacy.”

They mobilised their fellow students who had been suppressed by the closure of university clubs, banned events and protests, and the ever-present threat of Private Security Units (ÖGB) deployed against even the smallest wave of dissent. The cry of “enough” had been there for some time—what they did was unite those voices.

First, they turned their campuses into spaces of resistance. Then, they tore up the protest bans issued by the governorates. Through the slogan “Boycott in the morning, in the streets by night,” they declared that they did not recognise the regime’s so-called ‘laws’.

3 – They transformed the spirit of the opposition: One of the youth’s greatest impacts during this period was forcing the opposition into action. They opened a new path to the streets for a political opposition that had made critical mistakes during the regime’s formation and consolidation, placing all its hopes in ballot-box politics and limiting itself to parliamentary speeches against the regime.

With slogans like “We’re here for action, not for rallies,” they showed the transformative power of street politics to the entire country. Even by looking solely at the path followed by CHP, it’s clear that the youth managed to shake almost the entire opposition from its complacency.

Their leading role, the successive actions they organised, and their dynamic structure were enough to unnerve those in the Palace even during the traditionally quiet holiday period. When Özgür Özel lent his support to the 2 April Boycott, which the youth had launched with nothing more than a poster, ministers began appearing on live broadcasts at midnight, MPs posed in shopping malls with their shopping bags, and statements targeting the boycott quickly followed from Erdoğan and Bahçeli. The actions of the youth became a guide for the opposition.

4 – The straitjacket was torn off: The rights and freedoms long targeted by the Islamist one-man regime became another barricade for the youth to dismantle. They stood against the creeping conservatism imposed especially within education, the devaluation of their schools, and the deprivation of any sense of a future with a clear declaration: “We will defeat this regime.”

The youth cast aside fear, refusing to abandon friends who were detained or imprisoned. Erdoğan’s dream of raising a “pious and vengeful generation” may have always been doomed, but in just 20 short days, these young people plunged the Palace into darkness—they tore the straitjacket to pieces.

5 – The power of a united student movement emerged: In an atmosphere where past youth movements from the generation of ’68 to ’78, from the ’90s to Gezi had been erased from memory or marginalised by the regime, today’s youth once again revealed the strength of coming together. They threw off the X, Y, Z labels that had been imposed on them. Though they were not part of the Gezi generation, they planted in the government a fresh fear of a new Gezi.

The regime, which tried to rewrite history with terms like “terrorists at Gezi” or “radicals from the past,” has now fallen into its own trap. And yesterday in Kadıköy, it became clear once again: though the shadow of Gezi is with them and they follow its traces, the stage now belongs to them and they will write their own story.

They’ve already discovered the power of unity. So let’s leave one question, one we’ll never tire of asking for the gatekeepers of this decaying regime: How could you possibly defeat them?

Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Geleceği çalınan gençlerin meydan okuması: Erdoğan’ın bir geleceği yok, published in BirGün newspaper on April 9, 2025.