A historical comparison of the Albanian and Turkish citizenship in the 20th century

Abstract

This study aims to compare the Albanian and Turkish citizenship from the early 20s to the present day. The comparison will focus the Albanian and Turkish understandings of citizenship by looking at the way they are defined, that is the legal status of citizenship; the way it is practiced, which implies civic virtue in terms of participation in the political and social community; and the way it is perceived, that is identity or the way one expresses one’s membership in the community. Therefore this study is an attempt in the understanding of the common grounds and differences between the building, the application and perception of the notion citizenship in Albania and Turkey. This study provides an intra and inter comparison of Albanian and Turkish citizenship during three periods of the Twentieth century, therefore it allows for a self comparison and comparison between bothv countries. Albanian and Turkish citizenship are both constructed on the basis of Western understanding of citizenship, be this civic republican or liberal democratic, however, the most common problem throughout the time-period chosen is the difference in what is allowed de jure and what is practiced de facto.