An example of youth movements in Turkey: Ülkücü movement (1968-1980)

As the Ottoman Empire entered the process of disintegration, various ideas emerged in Turkish political life. The emerging ideas have affected youth movements significantly. In this respect, the subject of the study is the ülkücü youth movement, which is affected by the idea of Turkish nationalism. Institutionalization and massing of Turkish nationalism has extended a long period of time. Youth had a big role on nationalism institutionalize and massification process. As a matter of fact, efforts have been made to spread and popularize nationalism through associations and publications established by youth. In 1965, when Alparslan Türkeş became the chairman of the Republican Peasant Nation Party, it was seen that Turkish nationalism started to be represented in Turkish political life. This initiative, which will be known as the "ülkücü movement" in the following years, has had a great impact on nationalist youth. As a matter of fact, with the emergence of the ülkücü movement, it is seen that nationalist youth joined and fought under the established ülkücü youth organizations. In the first part of the study, the emergence of the idea of Turkish nationalism and the nationalist organizations established by youth were examined. In the second part of the study, the struggle of nationalist youth under the roof of the ülkücü movement with the mission to protect the state between 1968-1980 was examined. In the third part of the study, a detailed analysis of the ülkücü youth organizations established between 1968-1980 was made. Until now, studies on the nationalist movement have been conducted on the basis of Turkish nationalism and Nationalist Movement party. With this study, it was aimed to fill this gap in the literature by emphasizing the youth structure of the nationalist movement.