Catalonia's struggle for independence on the historical and legal plane

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how achievable Catalonia's goal of independence is and whether an independent Catalonia can survive in the international arena. While making an impression on the international scene as one of the most important independence movements around the world, Catalonia wants to leave Spain's authority by peacefully using democratic means and by enouncing its historical difference and linguistic originality. Unlike the armed terrorist organisations that seek independence based on their ethnicity in Europe, such as ETA and IRA, Catalonia acts according to law as much as it can and seeks the support of the international community, especially the European Union. The analysis of Catalonia's search for independence cannot be done without considering the history of Spain. This study focuses on the historical background of the conflict for both Spain and Catalonia. After a detailed examination of the historical development, the administrative structures of both Spain and Catalonia were examined. The legal basis of Catalonia's demand for independence has been examined in the context of the Constitutional level and Autonomy Statutes. After the political events that took place in Catalonia until 2020 were questioned on the basis of international law, the views of the United Nations and the European Union on the subject were discussed. In the preparation of the thesis, firstly the studies in the academic literature were reviewed, especially English and Spanish books were read, current developments were followed from reliable news sites and websites of institutions and researches were carried out within this framework. Afterwards, more current events were interpreted with the help of academic articles as much as possible, but internet resources were used frequently due to the novelty of the subject and its continuous new developments.