Minorities and Minority Rights in Turkey: From the Ottoman Empire to the Present State (Power and Human Rights)

The collapse of the multiethnic, multireligious, and multilingual Ottoman Empire after World War I led to the establishment of several nation-states, with enormous repercussions for the empire's minority populations. Baskin Oran focuses on religious and ethnic minorities in the Republic of Turkey - home for centuries to Alevites, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Syriacs, and more - to provide a comprehensive analysis encompassing the Ottoman era to the present. __Minorities and Minority Rights in Turkey__ is a revised and updated version of __Etnik ve Dinsel Azınlıklar: Tarih, Teori, Hukuk, Türkiye__, published by Literatür in 2018. Cover -1 Series page 4 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Tables and Figures 11 Preface 13 Ch1- Ethnic and Religious Minorities: A Conceptual Framework 15 KEY CONCEPTS 16 The Definition of Minority and Related Concepts 16 Empire, National State, Nation-State 18 Minority Policies of the State: Recognition, Assimilation, and Cleansing 19 STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK 21 Notes 23 Ch2- Minorities in the Ottoman Empire 25 MINORITIES IN THE MILLET SYSTEM 25 The Minority Issue in the Early Islam Period 25 The Millet System 26 THE PROTECTION OF MINORITIES IN EUROPE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE OTTOMANS 29 The Protection of Christian Minorities in the Ottoman Empire 30 The Protection of Muslim Minoritiesin the Former Ottoman Territories in the Balkans 36 Notes 37 Ch3- Minorities in the Republic of Turkey 39 “OFFICIAL” MINORITIES IN TURKEY: NON-MUSLIMS 39 The “Big Three” 40 Armenians 41 Jews 43 Rums 46 Figure 3.1 Number of Students in Rum Schools, 1920–2009 49 Non-Muslim Minorities Overlooked by the State 50 Antiochian/Arab Greek Orthodox Christians 51 Syriacs 53 Other Non-Muslims 56 OTHER MINORITIES IN TURKEY ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 62 Arabs 62 Alevis 63 Peoples from the Balkans and the Caucasus 75 Kurds 81 Roma People (Gypsies) 84 Notes 86 Ch4- Turkey’s Obligations Under International Law 93 THE ERA OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 93 Examining the Concept of Minorities Introduced by the Lausanne Treaty 96 Examining Minority Rights Introduced by the Lausanne Treaty 98 The Lausanne Treaty as a Human Rights Document: Articles 39/4 and 39/5 102 Common Myths in Turkey About the Lausanne Treaty 107 THE ERA OF THE UNITED NATIONS 109 The UN Conventions and Turkey’s Reservations and Interpretations 109 Regional Organizations and Turkey 113 Notes 116 Ch5- Minorities in Turkey’s Laws and Legal Structures 119 THE LEGISLATIVE AND THE EXECUTIVE POWERS 119 Nation, State, Language: Formulations in the Constitution and Laws 119 The Problem of Defining the Citizen and the Turk 123 Table 5.1 Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s Choice of Words Before and After the Republic 125 THE JUDICIARY 166 The Constitutional Court: Decisions to Close Kurdish Parties 166 The 1936 Declaration and Its Implementation 172 Notes 175 Ch6- Legislative Reforms, Resistance, and Reversals 183 RADICAL REFORMS REGARDING MINORITIES 185 Constitutional Amendments 185 The EU Harmonization Packages 186 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REFORMS UNTIL 2016 189 Practices Related to Non-Muslim Minorities 190 Implementations Related to the Kurdish Issue 205 CONDITIONS AFTER THE 2016 DECLARATION OF OHAL 208 The Situation Pertaining to All Citizens 208 The Situation Concerning the Kurds 225 Notes 228 Ch7- The Ideological Foundations of Repression and Discrimination 235 THE MENTALITY REGARDING MINORITIES, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND DEMOCRACY 236 Defining Citizenship, Nationality, Sub- and Supra-Identities 237 The Ideology of the Turkish Nation-State: Nationalism and Turkish-Islamic Synthesis 239 Figure 7.1 The Supra-Identity and Sub-Identities in the Ottoman Empire 239 Figure 7.2 The Supra-Identity and Sub-Identities in the Republic of Turkey 240 The AKP’s Ideology: Islamism and the Islamic-Turkish Synthesis 244 HATE SPEECH, HATE CRIMES, AND DISCRIMINATION 246 Hate Speech and Hate Crimes 246 The Regulation of Hatred and Discrimination in Turkey’s Laws 247 Turkey’s International Obligations Regarding Hate and Discrimination 249 Incidents of Hate and Discrimination and Related Lawsuits in Turkey 250 Notes 253 Ch8- The Implications of Persistent Rights Violations 255 THE BASIC APPROACH: “MINORITIES UPSET THE COHESION OF THE STATE AND OF THE NATION” 255 Multiple and Layered Mechanisms 255 Outcomes of the Basic Approach 257 MODERNIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN TURKEY: THREE WAVES AND PROBLEMS 260 Table 8.1 The Three Waves of Modernization in Turkey: A Comparative Summary 260 A Double Contradiction—Entangled Kemalists and Islamists 261 A Cacophony of Herodians and Zealots 262 Notes 263 Acronyms 265 Bibliography 269 Index 275 About the Book 289 An essential introductory read.... It is a valuable contribution to scholarship on minority rights in general and minorities in Turkey in particular. Dilek Kurban, Middle East Journal The collapse of the multiethnic, multireligious, and multilingual Ottoman Empire after World War I led to the establishment of several nation-states, with enormous repercussions for the empire's minority populations. Baskn Oran focuses on religious and ethnic minorities in the Republic of Turkeyhome for centuries to Alevites, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Syriacs, and moreto provide a comprehensive analysis encompassing the Ottoman era to the present. Minorities and Minority Rights in Turkey is a revised and updated version of Etnik ve Dinsel Aznl Tarih, Teori, Hukuk, Trkiye, published by Literatr in 2018. The collapse of the multiethnic, multireligious, and multilingual Ottoman Empire after World War I led to the establishment of several nation-states, with enormous repercussions for the empire's minority populations. Baskın Oran focuses on religious and ethnic minorities in the Republic of Turkey--home for centuries to Alevites, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Syriacs, and more--to provide a comprehensive analysis encompassing the Ottoman era to the present. Minorities and Minority Rights in Turkey is a revised and updated version of Etnik ve Dinsel Azınlıklar: Tarih, Teori, Hukuk, Türkiye, published by Literatür in 2018