Avrupalılaşma nereye? Yunanistan ve Türkiye'de azınlık hakları korumasının dönüşümü

This thesis analyzes the transformative power of Europeanization concerning the protection of minorities in member and candidate countries as well as revealing its inherent limitations partly due to the non-existence of concrete mechanisms and specific policy guidelines concerning the minorities in the EU. On the basis of the case studies drawn from Greece (Turkish-Muslim Minority of Western Thrace) and Turkey (Greek-Orthodox Minority of Istanbul), it will be argued that Europeanization has a gradual and limited catalyzing impact in member states mainly originating from the process of international socialization and internalization of the European ideas and norms, whereas the direct incorporation of the principle of ?respect for and protection of minorities? in the conditionality mechanism of the EU potentially brings a sudden and unprecedented wave of democratizing reforms in candidate countries, especially if the degree of ?misfit? between European norms and practices and domestic policies is high. While doing so, this thesis also examines the Ottoman legacy of the millet system, the path-dependent and exclusionary nature of Greek and Turkish nationalisms, the Lausanne system of minority protection and the fundamental problems of the aforementioned minority groups, and presents thematic analyses of continuities and changes in the minority policies of Greece and Turkey.