The way a year ends usually determines how the next one starts, so Turkey's youth may be the best guide to the opportunities and challenges facing the country's political leadership as it enters 2013.

On Dec.18, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended a ceremony on the campus of the Middle East Technical University just outside Ankara to celebrate the launch of Turkey's first domestic high-resolution Earth observation satellite, Gokturk-2. The event's organizers didn't invite the president and opposition party leaders to mark this proud day for the nation, and they also excluded students. Instead, 3500 policemen were deployed to protect Erdogan from students.

Nearly 300 students gathered nearby to protest the prime minister's policies and express their concern about the country's direction under his leadership. "These students were not protesting the launching of the Gokturk-2 satellite, as the prime minister likes to portray," Dogan Tilic, a teacher at the Media and Cultural Studies program, told Al-Monitor. "The students were protesting Erdogan's Syria policy, his overall Middle East approach. They're worried that he will take Turkey into a war, and they are reacting to the deployment of the Patriot missiles."

Policy differences between Erdogan and the students, coupled with the heavy police presence, triggered clashes. The police used water cannons and nearly 2000 tear-gas canisters against the students. Windows in nearby university buildings were shattered and classroom instruction ground to a halt. The university administration released a statement accusing the police of using excessive force. "We expect the security forces to act carefully in order for METU and all of Turkey to be safe from violence," the statement said. "We underline once again that the police should stop the use of force against students who wish to exercise their right to protest."