Taha Ayhan, President of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF), stated that the political conflicts in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries are also reflected in the economic data.
Mr. Ayhan, “The bad economy directly affects education and security with a chain adverse effect. "Muslim youth live in a psychological isolation globally," he said.
Stating that Islamophobia continues to rise in the world, Ayhan said, “Our youth with a Muslim identity face economic instability, education and security threats as well as this judiciary”.
Referring to the impact of the conflicts in the OIC countries, “The bad economy has a direct negative impact on education and security. Muslim youth are actually living in a psychological isolation globally. In this case, it is going away from its own values after a certain period of time,” he said.
Ayhan said that the most important obstacles to the Muslim youth are the equality of opportunity in education, the security of life and property, economic stability and the elimination of prejudices that they will not be missing from daily life.
"Muslim youth should take action to contribute to the economy"
Stating that the current orders will be shaken if the classical economic models shrink and the production models change due to the epidemic, Ayhan said, “It is important for our youth to adapt to the process quickly in order to adapt to this. This is not possible without the support of states. "The high unemployment, low labor force participation and limited participation of young people in the OIC member countries to entrepreneurship are remarkable."
Stating that the epidemic affected all humanity regardless of language, religion, race and country, Ayhan said, “Unfortunately, the already fragile situation of the youth has made it more negative. For our future, it is imperative for Muslim youth to take action to contribute to both the world economy and the economy of their own countries after the epidemic. But if they do not have sufficient equipment and training, of course, it will not be possible to achieve the desired result”.
"Entrepreneurship should be supported based on new technologies"
Pointing out that ensuring equality of opportunity in education is the most important factor in the participation of young people in employment, Ayhan said, “Entrepreneurship is also vital for the adaptation of non-diversified, narrow-based and shallow economies to the new economic order. "It is very important to support entrepreneurship, especially based on new technologies, and make young people the engine of economic development."
Stating that ICYF has limited resources but great goals and duties, Ayhan said, “We organize online trainings in a way to break the inequality of opportunity. We reach young people all over the world without any discrimination through trainings and encourage them to entrepreneurship with small-scale economic support. While ensuring the participation of young people in the workforce, we try to ensure that the relevant countries benefit from the potential of young people”.