The Nation State and Minority Languages: Turkish in Bulgaria (original) (raw)
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Struggle to Define the Nation: Ethnic Politics in Bulgaria and Turkey
sant.ox.ac.uk
This paper analyses criteria for inclusion and exclusion of minority groups in state policies. It compares how Turks in Bulgaria and Kurds in Turkey were treated in both the legal sphere and practice from the foundation of both states until 1940's. The analysis defines imperial legacy, elite unity, responses of minority groups and international context as important factors defining government policies to include and exclude minority groups. Imperial legacy is emphasized as an important factor in the early years of state formation. Imperial legacy defines options and limitations, but the combination of elite competition, responses of ethnic groups, legal definitions and international pressure draw the trajectory of government policies. In Bulgaria, government policies towards Turkish minority varied from ignorance 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 show that when ruling elites become unified and faced organized minority reaction, they tend to employ assimilation as their policy.
Journal of Peace Research, 1991
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Ethnic Relations , the State and Democratic Stability VENERA LLUNJI
2015
Nationalism represents a serious challenge for the countries in transition. It is a factor which immensely influences and shapes the transitional process in politics in all South-Eastern European countries. It represents a challenge for the post-communist countries especially for countries like the former republics of ex-Yugoslavia, since, as Robert Kaplan points out in his foreword chapter to the book Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History, “ in the Balkans, no wars are „local‟ ”. 1Societies in Europe are experiencing remarkable changes especially in politics and economy through empowerment of their democratic political and economic systems. Nationalism and nationalist attitudes are present in political cultures in countries of transition despite efforts for implementing democracy, rapid changes and modernization of societies at institutional level and social structure and despite the newly established environment of these societies. Countries in transition borrowed the so-called...
2018
In t r o d u c t io n ^ J ations, lan g u a g es, or states are so much part and parcel of the world in which we live nowadays that we hardly ever spare them a thought. These categories appear "transparent" to us, the "natural" building blocks1 from which our (social) world is composed, or-more aptly-constructed.2 Scholarly lit erature frequently suggests that a configuration of these three elements is the cornerstone of nationalism, or the sole ideology of statehood and peoplehood legitimation in today's world after the completion of decolonization and follow ing the breakup of the ideologically nonnational polity of the Soviet Union in the second half of the twentieth century. From the human perspective today's world is made of nation-states; the planet' s all inhabited and habitable landmass neatly apportioned among the extant polities. In this study, first, I aspire to "de-naturalize" the categories of nation, (a) language,3 and state (but I exclude from the analysis substate, suprastate, or "not-state-endow ed" nations and nationalisms). On this basis, I reflect on ethnic nationalism as a subspecies of the ideology of nationalism. According to common opinion, ethnic nationalism is quite closely, though in a largely unde fined and vague manner, associated with Central (and Eastern) Europe.4 In this pattern of things, the importance of language is customarily emphasized, often by reference to the seminal but rather rambling work Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, 1784-91 (Outlines o f a Philosophy of the History o f I thank Andrea Graziosi, Michael Flier, and Frank Sysyn for their invaluable sug gestions and lengthy discussion of this article's argument, which allowed me to improve it considerably. Obviously, the responsibility is mine for any remaining infelicities.
The Concept of the Nation and the Question of Nationalism
Citizenship and Rights in Multicultural Societies, 1995
The traditional nation-state is based on an authoritarian ideology in terms of the ethnic, religious and regional status of the individual (the citizen). This ideology corresponds to a centralist power structure and to the regrettable fact that population groups which differ from majority populations (in terms of their ethnic, religious, cultural orientation and so forth) do not enjoy equal rights. (Examples of this denial of basic rights are numerous even in the member states of the European Union.) The often un-reflected equation of nationality and citizenship fails to provide proper legal (constitutional) safeguards for human rights in the sense of peoples' (ethnic) rights. 1 The inhuman result of such an 'ideology of equation' can best be studied by analyzing the present ethnic strife in the territory of former Yugoslavia, where regrettably-with the help and tacit approval of European and United Nations diplomats-nationalist and chauvinist policies are being re-introduced as major factors shaping international relations.