The right to identity of an unrecognised minority : Kurdish minority under the territorial integrity of Turkey

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to propose a way for the achievement of substantive equality in Turkey via the adaptation of multiculturalism, which would only be reached through the equal treatment of all different identities. The area of focus is chosen as the provision of the right to identity to the Kurdish minority, which would be the primary step for a multicultural society. An interdisciplinary approach is preferred with the combination of law and history as a result of their complementary usage to draw a new perspective to the democratisation process of Turkey. First, history is used as the determining factor both to prepare the background of the adaptation through the discovery of the case specificities and to convince the ethnic majority of Turkey about the need for a change in the monocultural structure of the society. Second, law is used as the source of legitimacy, which will prevent possible objections resulted from the prejudices of the majority. In the end, by the reinforcement of law with the political concerns of the country, a future Turkey is drawn, in which diversity in harmony would provide an “Anatolian” majority without a specific ethnic identity.