Well, that's a wide question but that mostly depends on where do you live, as much as the age group. For age, it's safe to say majority of people who are aged around 18-26 definitely hate Erdoğan and fundamentally Islamist ideologies. We hate Erdoğan big time. I know people who fantasize about assassinating him. Erdoğan's party frequently turns normal high schools into Islamic schools. As you can guess, this makes people like me fucking angry. Just recently, they have decided to close my former high school to open an Islamic school... Another reason why we hate Erdoğan is because of the fact that he turned Turkey into a
KLEPTOCRACY. Him and his party is corrupted like hell. It's general knowledge around here. But you better not say that in Turkish. Suck up to Mr. President and he may get a little something something for you too. There is an adjective just created for suck-ups: Yandaş Medya (Loyalist Media)
Back to topic. Nowadays, university students are mostly apolitical when you compare it to like 30 years earlier. Back then, every student HAD a politic ideology set in his mind. If you said you didn't, you would have been lying.
Still, there are a lot of politically active young people. Most leftist organizations are almost exclusively formed of young people. Especially organizations like DevLis (Devrimci Liseliler = Revolutionary High-School Students... doesn't sound that silly in Turkish since most high-school goers regularly discuss politics) and DevUni (Devrimci Üniversiteliler = Revolutionary University Students). Organizations which aren't exclusively formed of young people still has lots of young people. For example. Maoist Communist Party and People's Liberation Army of Turkey members were almost all young adults. Maoist Communist Party members older than 30 only make up the 17,5% of the organization and members who are aged between 14 and 25 make up the %65 (last information is from wikipedia).
As you can guess, if a young Turkish citizen is interested in politics, he really is interested in politics. Especially Communism (mostly Leninist and Marxist... we hate Stalinism) is big among young people. Most people who formed these
"terrorist" organizations have been tortured until died, committed suicide, got killed, got executed at young age. People who are aged less than 18 got executed too. Their legacy still lives on. Especially
Deniz Gezmiş is known and loved by most young people. All they managed to do by executing was creating martyrs.
We also have the Ülkücü (direct translation: Idealist. True meaning: Nationalist) movement which is still popular among young adults and teens. However, I don't know much about that movement myself. Most of my friends have communistic or other less extreme leftist ideologies and I don't see myself as the friend of someone who is in the Grey Wolves... Ugh. Most people think of
Grey Wolves when someone says Turkish Nationalism but there are other less extreme nationalist organizations too.
By the way I better correct a misconception before it pops out. Kemalism has nationalism too but it has nothing to do with this Ülkücü movement's ideas about nationalism. Kemalist nationalism is about culture and integrity, not color of skin or ethnic origins. Kemalism doesn't aim for Pan-Turkism. This is a complex topic and is still being discussed in Turkey. However, I can say that Kemalism has no room for racism. Then again, not all Ülkücü people are fascists anyway.
When you look at regions, in the
Aegean region you can expect a Kemalist, secularist and leftist majority, especially in Izmir. When Erdoğan is going there, it's guaranteed that he will bring a police army with him. Leftists are also present in the east regions, especially in Tunceli, a city known as a haven for leftists and communists. People's Liberation Army of Turkey has originated from Tunceli. Mid-Eastern region is more conservative and Islamist.
The view on military coups are very varied. Only a minority regard it as a necessary evil. Who are these minority? It's usually people who have never seen a coup (young people) and people who oppose Erdoğan's agenda (leftist and/or secular people). However, most leftists, seculars and young adults still oppose military coups. There is a popular saying about coups: "Every coup pushes our country back 50 years."
Why Erdoğan wins elections even though he is hated like this? First, he bribes electors with free food and coal. Second, apolitical people. Third, weird stuff happens in buildings where elections take place. Fourth, he succeeds in using religion and making people forget every scandal. And fifth, fear, nobody likes to be arrested and tortured.
PS: This took me more than an hour to write. I mostly gathered information from Turkish websites and also threw in my personal opinions and experiences... It seems I mostly just rambled randomly. I'll post it anyway. My personal opinion? Well, I would settle for any government other than AKP unless it's corrupt, militaristic or oppressive... If the government doesn't tax something more than its worth (real price minus the taxes) it's a big bonus.
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