For anyone who wants to understand Turkey's recent history, the 1968 generation is not just a youth movement; it is a social possibility left unfinished. To understand the '68 generation is to grasp why this country has always had problems with thought, freedom and questioning.
1968 was a year of worldwide awakening. While the Sorbonne was occupied in Paris, millions took to the streets in the US against the Vietnam War, and universities were boiling from Berlin to Rome. In Turkey, this wave found a response among university youth, particularly at METU, Ankara University and Istanbul University.
The generation of '68 in Turkey was not just a street movement expressing their demands. This was a generation that read, wrote, debated and tried to understand the world. Books, leaflets, forums and open debates were essential elements of this period. In a game-changing way, the youth did not see the state as a sacred structure, but as an institution that had to be held accountable.
However, this questioning mind clashed with the state reflex of the period. Criticism was perceived as a threat, asking questions was considered anti-establishment. The state preferred to suppress this generation, not to understand it.
The execution of Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan is the most dramatic example of this conflict. These executions were not just the end of the lives of three young people; they were the destruction of a way of thinking, an ethic of objection. If these people had been kept alive, we would be talking about a very different climate in Turkish politics, academia and the legal world today.
The March 12 Memorandum in 1971, followed by the September 12 coup d'état in 1980, completely closed the intellectual space opened by the ’68 generation. In post-1980 Turkey, not only politics but also memory suffered a blow. Academics were expelled from universities, journalists were silenced, trade unions were disbanded, and the youth was deliberately apoliticized.
This process is the systematic elimination of the thinking person by the state. Instead of the questioning individual, the model of the obedient citizen was built. Today, if we are still talking about freedom of expression, brain drain and the hopelessness of young people, the roots of this should be sought in the treatment of the generation of 68.
The generation of 68 was a great chance for Turkey. It offered an early leap forward for democratization, university autonomy, the rule of law and social justice. This chance was squandered with securityist reflexes.
The generation of 68 is not a nostalgia. The generation of 68 is not a romantic past. The generation of 68 is a future that Turkey could not live.
Today, in every search for justice, in every demand for freedom, in every youth protest, the voice of the 68 generation is heard again. Because some generations cannot be defeated; they are only silenced.