Redefining Boundaries for Civic and Political Engagement and Participation of Turkish Youth After the 2016 Attempted Military Coup

This paper analyses the dimensions that hinder, or activate, the engagement and participation of young people in Turkey in the aftermath of the 2016 attempted military coup. Extant research has focused on various intertwining patterns key for understanding the transformation of Turkish society by taking young people as a case study. This body of work shows that, even if spaces to exercise political participation are limited, young people have actively been redefining the boundaries of participation through non-conventional modalities. The paper contributes to this debate by exploring the socio-political context following the 2016 attempted military coup and leading to the 2023 national elections. We view this event as a turning point that calls for the redefinition of the current explanatory frameworks for participatory behavior and practices. The research relies upon a survey conducted in Turkey in the aftermath of the 2016 military coup aimed at studying the different factors hindering or activating the engagement and participation of young people.