Youth Union of Turkey

Youth Union of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Gençlik Birliği, TGB) is a Turkish nationalist, Kemalist ^[1] revolutionary youth organization founded on 19 May 2006. It comprises 65 student clubs and societies from over 40 Turkish universities.

The TGB is a Kemalist organization that has strong beliefs in conspiracy theories about the West controlling the Justice and Development Party despite the AKP opposing many Western principles and initiatives as well as the continuously deteriorating relations with Western governments at the helm of the AKP leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

TGB opposes any future Turkish membership in the European Union and any cooperation with what it calls "American imperialism".^[2] It has organized mass protests against the Justice and Development Party.

On November 12, 2014, members of the TGB protested United States Navy sailors from the USS Ross (DDG-71) that were in Istanbul and telling them, in English, "You declare that you are a member of US Army, and now because we define you as murderers, as killers, we want to you, you to, get out of our land."^[3] They also chanted "yankee, go home" as they assaulted three sailors and chased them as they fled the scene. The incident was video recorded. The TGB put out a statement saying: "Bags we put over the American soldiers are for the nations of Palestine to Syria." Turkish police later arrested 12 members of the TGB who, in December, were charged for the assault^[4] and the Istanbul TGB President Uğur Aytaç said about the violent attack: "proud to be detained for such a reason."^[1]

The TGB has opened Attila İlhan Cultural Centers in several cities to promote its values among young people. Its centers in Ankara, Istanbul, İzmir, Eskişehir and Afyon are to be followed by new ones in Bursa, Diyarbakır, Eskişehir, Sivas, Muğla, Mersin, Trabzon, Erzurum, Hatay and Denizli.

References

External links

• Türkiye Gençlik Birliği TGB (Turkey Youth Union)