Minority rights regime in Turkey and the European regional organizations
Author(s)
Advisor
Helvaciogiu, BanuDate
2004Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
This thesis examines the framework of minority rights in the context of
Turkey and the European-regional organizations focusing on the ways of
accommodating two interrelated dimensions of minority conditions: citizenship
equality and ethno-cultural particularity. Due to fact that ideological discourse and
practices of nation-state system have often conflated ^^citizenship” (statemembership)
and ^‘nationality” (ethno-cultural membership), the possibility of
developing genuine equality in ethno-culturally diverse circumstances has depended
on the capacity to create a true reconciliation between citizenship equality and
ethno-cultural particularity. This thesis affirmed that norms, principles, practices
and instruments adopted in the European-regional organizations have largely
reconciled citizenship equality and ethno-cultural diversity. The two concepts,
however, have often excluded each other in the Turkish context where the principle
of equality has usually been conflated with national uniformity while ethno-cultural
diversity has frequently been associated with practices of inegalitarian treatment. It
is only under the influence of EU integration that legal-political framework and
practices of Turkish regime began to take substantive steps in the direction of
reconciling citizenship equality with ethno-cultural, religious and linguistic
particularities.