Minority policy of European Union and minority rights in Turkey European Union accesion process

The subject of ?Minorities? dates back to sixteenth century. The term that was used to neutralize the unwanted effects of denominations of Christianity, has been extended to include ?ethnicity and language?. The minority subject was first brought forward mainly by the nationalism after the French Revolution and peaked after World War I. The term, ?Human Rights?, that developed after World War II, has been used in place of minority rights. Today the subject of minorities is being brought up by European Union and ?Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe?.The subject of minorities and minority rights emerges in the last century of the Ottoman Empire. In the process that started as inclining to West, the first spark was the ?Tanzimat Fermanı? about minority rights. ?Meşrutiyet? and especially the Notion of freedom that came with it, was the period where most rights were gained by the everrising Otoman Minorities. But it has to be noted that only nonMuslims were accepted as Otoman Minorities. While establishing the new Turkish Republic, Lausanne Peace Treaty also brought political and legal stability to minorities inherited from the Otoman Empire. The treaty which is valid stil, only recognizes ?nonMuslim Groups? as minorities. Turkey?s membership process to EU started an era with new events and political pressure on the subject of minority rights.EU has a highly developped legal system. But even in EU there are different approaches and ways of recognizing minorities. In spıte of these conflicts, EU expects very different applications with no legal support from Turkey.EU applies political pressure on Turkey by bringing up the minority subject during membership talks and wants to create ?new minority groups? according to their own criteria. Turkey?s acceptance of EU biased issues on minorities has a huge potential of negative consequences on national sovereignity.Key Words: Minority, Minority Rights, Turkey, European Union.