Minorities in Turkey within the scope of historical background and the effects on Turkey of European Union's approach to the subject of minorities.

ABSTRACTThe subject of ?Minorities? dates back to sixteenth century. The termthat was used to neutralize the unwanted effects of denominations of Christianity, hasbeen extended to include ?ethnicity and language?. The minority subject was firstbrought forward mainly by the nationalism after the French Revolution and peakedafter World War I. The term, ?Human Rights?, that developed after World War II, hasbeen used in place of minority rights. Today the subject of minorities is being broughtup by European Union and ?Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe?.The subject of minorities and minority rights emerges in the last centuryof the Ottoman Empire. In the process that started as inclining to West, the first sparkwas the ?Tanzimat Fermanı? about minority rights. ?Meşrutiyet? and especially thenotion of freedom that came with it, was the period where most rights were gained bythe everrising Otoman Minorities. But it has to be noted that only non-Muslims wereaccepted as Otoman Minorities.While establishing the new Turkish Republic, Lausanne Peace Treatyalso brought political and legal stability to minorities inherited from the OtomanEmpire. The treaty which is valid stil, only recognizes ?non-Muslim Groups? asminorities. Turkey?s membership process to EU started an era with new events andpolitical pressure on the subject of minority rights.EU has a highly developped legal system. But even in EU there aredifferent 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 minoritysubject during membership talks and wants to create ?new minority groups?according to their own criteria. Turkey?s acceptance of EU biased issues onminorities has a huge potential of negative consequences on national sovereignity.