Rights and political participation of Turks in North Macedonia from the cold war to the present (1945-2023)

The Republic of North Macedonia is a multinational, multicultural, multilingual and multi-religious state. Ensuring and implementing the equal rights of all communities living in the country is essantial for its European Union membership. Turks, who have been living in North Macedoniafor decades, played a significant role during the Yugoslavi era in advocating for Macedonia's status as a republic. Turks are among the founding elements of the country. These rights are guaranteed under the Constitution, laws of Republic of North Macedonia, and international agreements. Turks, as a founding element of the country, have the legal right to be represented in national politics. In this thesis, the rights and political participation of Turks from the Yugoslavia erat o the present will be analysed. With the data obtained from interviews in North Macedonia, the rights of Turks within the framework of the Constitution of North Macedonia, laws and international agreements to which the country is a party, to what extent they can or cannot benefit from them in practice, and the problems they experience will be discussed. By analyzing their political participation, recommendations will be proposed for solving the issues faced by Turks. What can be done for the Turks, who are the founding element, to live equally with all communities in North Macedonia by benefiting from their rights at the highest level will be examined. Ensuring equality and high-level benefit is important both for the Turkish community and other communities and for the development of North Macedonia. Improving the rights of the Turkish community will have a positive impact on the relations between the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of North Macedonia.