Ethnic and religious identity perception and consciousness of belonging of Turks living in Prizren city of Kosovo

The concept of identity refers to not only specific characteristic of individuals, but also the sense of belonging for them. Identities, whose formations are initiated by means of socialization processes beginning from the birth of individuals, serve as decisive and dissociative elements in order for individuals to survive by specifying some of their characteristics such as their position in society, together with their religious and ethnic belonging at the same time. Having existed as an ethnic group in the Balkans for centuries, Turks have been involved in many struggles in order to maintain their identity throughout the centuries. Constituting either the dominant population or the minority population for centuries, they are still struggling to retain their Turkishness in the Balkans. These struggles have led to the emergence of some differences in the ways Turks living in the city of Prizren in Kosovo express themselves, which forms the scope of analysis for this thesis study. Following the end of the Ottoman rule in the Balkans, the Turks perceived the Balkans as an area entrusted to them by the Ottoman Empire. As there have been a lot of attempts to assimilate them by the other nations willing to assert their voices in the region, it has become more important for Turks to emphasize their ethnic and religious identities. In this study, in addition to examining the perceptions of the Turks living in Prizren city of Kosovo for the concepts of ethnic identity and religious identity, the consciousness of belongingness of the Turks living in Prizren was tried to be revealed.