Young Turks org

Turkey celebrates Youth Day today but the state of the country's youth is not very promising, according to reports by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ankara Trade Chamber.

The picture looks bleak for Turkish youth aged between 15 and 24, who make up 17 percent of the total population of about 72 million. Of the 12.4 million young people aged 15-24, 30 percent go to school and 30 percent work, shows the UNDP report Youth in Turkey issued this year. Almost 40 percent 4.7 million young people are idle.

They neither work nor go to school. In fact, there are millions of young people who are in the category of invisible or less visible youth' in Turkey, the report reads.

These include women who are neither in education nor at work, about 2.2 million; the physically handicapped some 650,000; young people who have given up all hope and stopped seeking jobs 300,000; juvenile delinquents, some 22,000; and street children and youth living on the streets, internally displaced, or victims of human trafficking and others who rarely get noticed or mentioned in survey studies or in the media, read the UNDP report.

The most fruitful years of our youth are wasted away. It is not only the youth's, but the country's future which darkens, said Sinan Aygün, president of the Ankara Trade Chamber, or ATO based on its Turkish acronym. ATO's state of the youth report, prepared based on data from the Turkish Statistics Institute, or TÜİK, reveals that by February, employment among youngsters was 9.6 points above the national average, reaching 21.2 percent. They kill time at home, in the streets, or in coffee houses, said Aygün.

East Anatolia most struck by inadequate education

A closer look at statistics reveals the situation gets dire when regional and gender gaps are taken into account. Firstly, enrollment rates vary greatly between eastern and western Turkey. Net enrolment rates fall below the country-level rates especially in southeastern and northeastern Anatolia. While the country-level average schooling rate at primary education level is 89 percent, this rate is 79 percent in southeastern Anatolia and 84 percent in northeastern Anatolia. The average schooling rate at secondary education level for the country is 56 percent, while it is 26 percent in southeastern Anatolia and 41 percent in northeastern Anatolia, underlined the UNDP report. Chances of girls receiving an education are still lower than boys. Although school enrollment rates for girls have increased and gender gaps in enrollment and attendance in primary education have closed by 15 percent in recent years, there were gender gaps of 4 percent in primary education and 8 percent in secondary education in the 2006-2007 academic year.

Jobs do not provide shelter from idleness

While enrolled at educational institutions, young people have access to high standard education and while some of those employed work in quality jobs, a significantly larger section lacks such opportunities, unable to secure decent living conditions for their future. They are usually unqualified for the jobs they have, due to lack of adequate education. Around 62 percent of working youth are deprived of social security, while non-registered employment is as high as 73 percent among those with education levels below a high school degree, according to the ATO report. As they usually work unregistered, they are vulnerable to losing their jobs. Among 836,000 young people striving to find work, 540,000 have previously worked and lost their job. In 2007, 65 percent of them joined the ranks of the unemployed, said the report.

The situation is even gloomier for youth employed in the agriculture sector and in small businesses. One-fourth of young people work without any personal revenue and some of their contribution to the economy cannot be exactly measured. This means that they work free of charge for family businesses and on fields, said the ATO report.

Problems of youth are all the more pressing, as Turkey will not have a large proportion of young people forever. Already, the percentages of 0-14 and 0-19 year-olds are declining. By 2040, the only rising proportion of the population will belong to the 65 year-olds and above. Therefore, 2040 will mark the end of the Turkish demographic window of opportunity, read the UNDP report.

Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said was an exceptionally important country for the EU, while Slovenian President Danilo Turk pointed out that Turkey`s membership was key to EU`s becoming a global power.

Turk said pre-set perspectives for EU membership could not be changed after the beginning of negotiations.

President of Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, said Turkey was definitely part of Europe and Europe did not belong to anybody.

Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom, said they supported Turkey`s EU membership and underlined that the aim of negotiations was full membership.

Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu said as much as Turkey needed the EU, the EU needed Turkey.

Turkish Red Crescent Directorate General stated that the team, which had 500,000 USD of budget, would help in line with the demands of Chinese Red Cross.

The Red Crescent team was moved from Aceh region of Indonesia to China as a pioneer team.

Turkish Foreign Ministry and Turkish Embassy in Beijing are extending diplomatic support to Red Crescent team.

The epicentre of yesterday's earthquake was near Chengdu which is about 1,600 km southwest of Beijing. The earthquake claimed almost 10,000 lives.

Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin, Ankara Governor Kemal Onal, British Ambassador in Ankara Nick Baird and Turkish Ambassador in London Yigit Alpogan welcomed Queen Elizabeth II and the accompanying delegation at Ankara`s international Esenboga Airport.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is paying this visit as the guest of Turkish President Abdullah Gul. An official welcoming ceremony will take place at the Cankaya Presidential Palace.

After holding a tete-a-tete meeting, President Gul will host a banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II.