Policy Change for the Displaced Kurds in Turkey Europeanization andConditionality

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Canveren Ö.

Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi, cilt.3, sa.1, ss.137-164, 2016 (Hakemli Dergi)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 3 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Dergi Adı: Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Academic Search Premier, Index Islamicus, Directory of Open Access Journals, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.137-164
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

International and regional organizations can act as persuasive actors with regard to minority rights in a given country by raising awareness, putting the issue on agenda, and endorsing a new platform in a country which may lead to a policy change. Despite the general observation that Turkey’s Europeanization process has had limited impact on the minority issues in Turkey, there are numerous examples that the European Union (EU) has played a constructive role in improving of rights and fundamental freedoms for the Kurdish populace living in Turkey. The Law on Compensation for Damage Arising from Terror passed in 2004 is a case worth addressing in order to ascertain both the symbolic and discursive policy change. The aim of this article is to explain how the EU used democratic tools to promote change in Turkey’s political structure for the displaced Kurds. The Europeanization of Turkey, based on specific conditionality, is taken as primarily responsible for granted for the shift and the policy change. In this policy-oriented case study, hypotheses from Rationalist and Constructivist Approaches in Europeanization literature are investigated to explain the causes and constitutive relations of the policy shift from repudiate to compensation.