Reflections on Millets and Minorities: Ottoman Legacies

“Reflections on Millets and Minorities: Ottoman Legacies” in Riva Kastoryano, ed., Turkey between Nationalism and Globalization, London: Routledge, 2013.

This chapter will argue that the category of "minority" in Turkey emerged as synonymous with the non-Muslim populations as a result of both long-term historical processes and shorter-term conjunctural developments during the Turkish Republic's establishment in the early twentieth century. In consequence, Turkey has not been able to develop political and conceptual frameworks that recognize muslim ethnic and religious minorities within its borders.