ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES EVOLUTION OF MINORITY RIGHTS IN EUROPE: THE CASE OF WESTERN THRACE MUSLIM TURKISH MINORITY MA Thesis by Şule CHOUSEIN Department: International Relations Programme: International Relations Supervisor: Assistant Professor Cüneyt Yenigün AUGUST 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assistant Prof. Cüneyt Yenigün for his valuable guidance, feedback and encouragement throughout the preparation of this work. I owe my special thanks to our Department Head Hasan Hüseyin Zeyrek for the inspiration he gave me to do a masters degree in International Relations. I am also indebted to my instructors, friends and minority members who have made valuable contributions to this study. I would also like to express my thanks to Jennifer Jackson Preece, Diamanto Anagnostou, Vemund Aarbakke and Baskın Oran whose works I have used extensively in this dissertation. Istanbul, 2006 Sule Chousein ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................... V ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... 1 KISA ÖZET ................................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 3 I. CONCEPTUALIZATION OF MINORITY AND ETHNICITY ............... 7 A. Conceptualization of Minority by International Organizations ............................................ 7 I. The League of Nations ............................................................................................................. 7 II. The United Nations .................................................................................................................. 8 III. Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe .............................................................. 9 IV. Council of Europe ................................................................................................................. 10 B. Conceptualization of Ethnicity ................................................................................................ 10 II. EVOLUTION OF MINORITY RIGHTS .................................................. 12 A. World Imperial System ........................................................................................................... 12 I. Medieval Ages ....................................................................................................................... 12 II. Ottoman Empire ..................................................................................................................... 13 B. Dissolution of Empires and Emergence of Nation States ..................................................... 17 I. Emergence of Nation-States in Europe .................................................................................. 17 II. Minority Concept from Westphalia to the League of Nations ............................................... 19 a. Congress of Vienna (1815) ............................................................................................... 20 b. Congress of Berlin (1878) ................................................................................................. 21 C. Minority Rights Granted By International Organizations ................................................... 23 I. The League of Nations ........................................................................................................... 23 II. The United Nations (1945-1990) ........................................................................................... 30 III. Council of Europe.................................................................................................................. 34 IV. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe .............................................................. 36 V. Post Cold War Developments and the UN (1990 - ) .............................................................. 37 D. Post Cold War Minority Rights and Enforcement Mechanisms in Europe ......................... 40 I. The Council of Europe ................................................................................................................. 41 a. The European Court of Human Rights [European Convention on Human Rights] ................ 42 b. Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities ......................................... 44 c. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages................................................... 47 II. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ................................................. 48 III. Regionalism in the European Union .......................................................................................... 52 III. MINORITY GOVERNANCE IN MULTINATIONAL STATES OF WESTERN EUROPE ................................................................................... 54 A. Federal States (Germany, Switzerland, Belgium) .................................................................. 55 a. Germany ............................................................................................................................ 56 b. Switzerland........................................................................................................................ 58 c. Belgium ............................................................................................................................. 59 B. Multinational Unitary Constitutional Monarchy –the UK .................................................... 60 C. Multinational Parliamentary Monarchy -Spain ...................................................................... 68 IV. CASE: WESTERN THRACE MUSLIM-TURKISH MINORITY OF GREECE ...................................................................................................... 72 A. Greece and its Minorities ........................................................................................................ 72 B. Background of Western Thrace Muslim-Turkish Minority ................................................ 76 I. A Brief History of Western Thrace ........................................................................................ 79 II. Emergence of Western Thrace Minority ................................................................................ 85 III. Protection of Minorities in the Lausanne Treaty .................................................................... 91 IV. Debates on Ethnic Identity of the Minority: Muslim? Turkish? ............................................. 93 C. The State of the Minority from Lausanne Treaty until 1990s ............................................. 97 I. The period of 1923-1939 ....................................................................................................... 97 II. The period of 1939-1967 ..................................................................................................... 104 III. The period of 1967-1974 ..................................................................................................... 108 IV. The period of 1974- 1989 ..................................................................................................... 109 D. Violations of Human and Minority Rights .......................................................................... 111 I. Economic Sphere ................................................................................................................. 111 a. Expropriation of Land ..................................................................................................... 111 b. Curtailment of Freedom to exercise profession............................................................... 115 c. Restriction on the Purchase of Immovables, and Issuance of Driving Licenses ............. 116 d. Deprivation of Citizenship -Article 19 ............................................................................ 118 e. Establishment of the Restricted Zone .............................................................................. 122 II. Cultural Sphere .................................................................................................................... 122 a. Religious Freedom ......................................................................................................... 122 b. Management of Pious Foundations (vakıflar) ................................................................ 126 c. Education ....................................................................................................................... 128 E. Minority Organization and Representation in Parliament ................................................ 130 I. Minority Organization ......................................................................................................... 130 II. Minority Representation in Parliament ................................................................................ 131 F. Political Mobilization of the Minority .................................................................................. 133 I. The 1988 Mass Demonstration in Komotini ........................................................................ 134 II. Trials of Dr Sadık Ahmet ....................................................................................................