The EU Accession of Turkey as a Chance for Human Rights and Minorities?

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: Sehr gut, University of Vienna (Institut für Politikwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: The question of whether Turkey is ready to join the European Union has been discussed a lot in recent years and many arguments in favor and against an accession have been put forward. This thesis deals especially with those aspects of the debate concerning human and minority rights. Though Turkey has made some progress in that field too, a lot of issues are yet unresolved; most importantly the denial of the genocide against Christians at the beginning of the last century and the associated discrimination of non-Moslems that still exists today. Unfortunately, these points are rarely acknowledged and economic issues seem to be of higher importance. Only few people even know about the atrocities that took place a century ago and those who do, mostly connect it with the Armenians and - possibly - the Pontiac Greeks; one group of victims seems to be utterly forgotten - the Syriacs. This is of course not to say that the other minorities' persecution is of lesser significance, but this thesis will focus on the Syriacs, in order to give those a voice, who were almost completely unheard up to now. In the course of the following chapters it will be argued that Turkey has to come to terms with its past - which necessarily has to include recognizing the genocide - if it wants to become a member of the European Union and that it is up to the EU to make that topic a priority. The accession talks, if conducted in the right way, could offer a unique possibility to bring along a long-overdue change in Turkey's human rights policy. Past events have shown that there is potential for improvement. However, to achieve this, certain facts have to be addressed; ignoring them would be to the detriment of all. To show this, the first chapters will provide the historical background, focusing on the genocide and its aftermath, but also on Turkey's role as a bridge between cultures. Then, the development of the accession talks and the criteria attached to it will be analyzed. Finally, the positive and negative developments for Christian minorities (especially the Syriacs) and a possible pathway for change will be elaborated on.