Minority Policies in Bulgaria and Turkey: The Struggle to Define a Nation

This paper analyses how state policies towards minorities are defined in new nation-states. It compares the treatment of Turks in Bulgaria and Kurds in Turkey from the foundation of both states until the 1940s. Imperial legacy, elite unity, responses of minority groups and the international context...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of southeast European and Black Sea studies 2006-12, Vol.6 (4), p.501-521
Main Author: Koksal, Yonca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apathy
Assimilation
Bulgaria
Central Government
Comparative analysis
Government Policy
Identity politics
Minorities
Minority Governments
Minority Groups
Nation building
Policy studies
Social policy
Strategic studies
Tolerance
Turkey
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Summary:This paper analyses how state policies towards minorities are defined in new nation-states. It compares the treatment of Turks in Bulgaria and Kurds in Turkey from the foundation of both states until the 1940s. Imperial legacy, elite unity, responses of minority groups and the international context are important factors that influenced government policies to include or exclude minority groups. In Bulgaria, government policies towards the Turkish minority varied from indifference to tolerance and later to assimilation. In Turkey, the trajectory of state policy shifted from tolerance to assimilation in the early years of nation-state formation. Findings suggest that when unified central governments and organized minority reaction coincide, state policies tend to aim at the assimilation of minorities.
ISSN:1468-3857
1743-9639
DOI:10.1080/14683850601016390