Minority policies in Bulgaria and Turkey: the struggle to define a nation

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 nationstate formation. Findings suggest that when unified central governments and organized minority reaction coincide, state policies tend to aim at the assimilation of minorities.