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Abstract
This paper analyses how state policies towards minorities are defined in new nation‐states. It compares the treatment of Turks in Bulgaria and Kurds in Turkey from the foundation of both states until the 1940s. Imperial legacy, elite unity, responses of minority groups and the international context are important factors that influenced government policies to include or exclude minority groups. In Bulgaria, government policies towards the Turkish minority varied from indifference 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 suggest that when unified central governments and organized minority reaction coincide, state policies tend to aim at the assimilation of minorities.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Karen Barkey, Dimitar Bechev, Roy Licklider, Kerem Öktem and Charles Tilly for their helpful comments.
Notes
[1] For a summary and critique of civic/ethnic nationalism dichotomy and its relation to state policies, see Shulman (Citation2002).
[2] See Beatrice F. Manz (Citation2003: 70–101) for the legacy of Habsburg, Russian and Mongol empires on the formation of national identities.
[3] Rogers Brubaker (Citation1992) defines crystallization of nationhood as the combination of legal definitions and major events such as the French revolution. I narrow this definition to the legal sphere for the moment of fixation.
[4] Muslim religious leaders were part of the Bulgarian Constituent Assembly ex officio.
[5] The Treaty of Peace between Bulgaria and Turkey, in American Journal of International Law 8.1 (Suppl: Official Documents, Citation1914): 27–45.
[6] Bey was a title granted to literate and wealthy members of the Muslim community in the Ottoman Empire. It usually implied involvement in state administration or membership to local notable families.
[7] Turan referred to a mythical homeland of Turks in Central Asia.
[8] T. Düstur, Cilt 26, s.170, Resmi Gazete 15/1/1945‐5905, Kanun No: 4695 [Turkish Law].
[9] TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, I: 8, 24‐4‐1336/1920, vol. 2: 162–165 [Recordings of Turkish Parliamentary Debates].
[10] Note that Ziya Gökalp was ethnically Kurdish.