An analysis about minority policy and status of minorities in Turkey

For many years, the Ottoman Empire housed different ethnic, religious and cultural groups. This legacy of the Ottoman Empire has preserved its existence in the Republic of Turkey and still continues to do so. Some of these ethnic, religious and cultural groups are defined as minority groups in the Republic of Turkey. Over time, these groups have taken part in a new structure, albeit partially, by merging with the policies of the Republic of Turkey with the aim of establishing a nation. Although they have become part of the nation, in general these groups are still in minority status. Therefore, the aim of the study is to examine the concept of minority, which has effects in social, regional and global contexts, together with its historical development, to periodically examine the situation of non-Muslim minorities, which were accepted as a minority in the Lausanne Peace Treaty, from the founding date of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 to the present, and to examine the situation in Turkey in this direction. It is to present an evaluation of the policies implemented and the events that took place. The historical and conceptual background of the subject is quite extensive. Therefore, as a method, the current sources of the obtained data have been tried to be revealed by examining the existing sources and considering them on a historical and chronological level. In this direction, the questions of the study can be listed as follows: What does the concept of minority mean, what is Turkey's minority policy, what/what is this policy based on, who constitutes a minority group, what is the situation and position of these minorities in the country? In this framework, without being thrown to different extremes in the studies on minorities, it was concluded in this study that despite various problems at the social level regarding minorities, this did not reach a systematic political exclusion and that the legal framework includes the basic elements.