Turkish Youth Group’s goal is to build community

Once a week, the Turkish Youth Group meets, whether to play soccer, connect with each other, or simply hold space for the community. 

Preparation for the group’s first game against a Bosnian youth group last month saw the soccer team practice outside Brighton High School, focused as though they were pursuing something greater than just winning the match.

“This is really about community, honestly. It’s about preserving culture and creating more,” says president and player Abdul York. “We’re not just Turkish, right? We’re also Americans, and we’re Turkish-Americans here. We’re here to really represent culture.”

The youth soccer group, formed this summer, aims to create a platform for Turkish youth and supporters to find community. While practices and games are the main attraction, the group also offers watch parties and similar social events designed with youth in mind. Efforts also include other ethnic communities.

“The Bosnian community is a similar community like us, Bosnian-Americans, they’re relatively new as well to the soccer world,” notes player Cuneyt Varder. “The whole idea behind this game is to get all our communities together and kind of rekindle something that we feel like has maybe been lost over the generations.”

Fostering culture is at the forefront of the Turkish Youth Group, which has 130 members. Culture could mean preserving fragments of identity passed down through generations or forging new connections among Turkish youth in the United States.

“I mean, what is America? What is the United States? We’re just a big melting pot, right? And if we’re an ingredient here as Turks, let’s have our taste, you know, let’s give that spice here,” says York. “Something that I noticed, at least with myself as well (as) with my friends growing up, is who are the other Turks around? You know, who can we also become friends with? Who can we get to know, like, who are those that are just like us, right?”

Though the team remains focused on soccer practice and competition, its members recognize the impact they have on their larger community. Their success, they say, lies not in the outcome of the game.

“I think the work we’ve done all together as a community so far this last couple months has been monumental,” says Varder. “We’re getting a bunch of family together, a bunch of our community together that may have not been seeing each other for a while. So, if we can get this more often, get this going and if soccer is an attractive factor for people to come watch and come be together, then so be it. That’s what we’ll do.”

In coordination with the Turkish Society of Rochester, the Turkish Youth Group has promoted the upcoming 2025 Turkish Festival, with food, entertainment, and live music. The 2025 Turkish Festival will be held Aug. 29-31, at the Turkish Society, 677 Beahan Road in Chili.

Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort. 

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