Legal Contention and Minorities in Turkey

This chapter analyzes state-minority relations in Turkey as the state sought closer relations with the European Union over the last three decades. It examines the implementation of decisions by the European Court of Human Rights and the domestic courts as well as of legal reforms passed by the Turkish parliament that relate to the cultural demands of two largest minorities in Turkey, the Kurds and the Alevis. It underlines that in Turkey legislative reforms and progressive court judgments in favor of minority rights do not have much effect on shifting state policy on the ground. This is because state officials can act with impunity, enjoying wide discretionary authority and allowing extralegal and informal forms of official discrimination. Official discrimination can be best examined by focusing on administrative implementation rather than legal texts. This study also shows that the implementation of minority rights reforms is a contentious process that largely depends on bottom-up pressures through persistent social and political mobilization. In the absence of a strong movement, neither international pressure nor legal contention is adequate to change state policy on the ground.