THE EUROPEANIZATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS IN TURKEY: NON-MUSLIM MINORITIES AND THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS

What is it about?

The conventional elements of Turkey’s minority regime are based on the legal framework of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, the state’s political maneuverings and societal attitudes. The EU seriously challenges the conventional treatment of minorities in Turkey. The Commission via its annual progress reports on Turkey, the Council via its summit decisions and the Parliament via oral and written questions addressed in the assembly emphasize the need for a better treatment of minorities in Turkey and call on Turkey to improve its human as well as minority rights records.

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Why is it important?

From the Turkish perspective, there is no need for an immense reform since the Turkish Constitution and the Lausanne Treaty provides protection and equal treatment of non-Muslim minorities, which also allegedly satisfies the Copenhagen criteria for EU membership. The EU’s pressure for the improvement of minority rights did not change this attitude and the Turkish state tries to satisfy the EU demands under the wider framework of changes in human rights and individual rights. In the Turkish context, the solution to minority rights is to handle them through improvements in three realms: elimination of discrimination, cultural rights and religious freedom. However, although reforms in these spheres point to an Europeanization process, they fall short of the spirit precluded in the Treaty of Lausanne and the Copenhagen criteria.