Paper short abstract:

My paper explores modern notions of citizenship within the newly developed international framework on human/minority rights in the case of the Muslim-Turkish minority in Greece. My main argument is that internal minority dynamics, states, and European and international policies are found in dialectic.

Paper long abstract:

Mert, a 79 years old man, ex-Greek citizen and member of the Turkish-Muslim minority in Thrace (Greece), was one among the 46638 members of this Minority who lost their citizenship between 1955-1998 based on the provisions of article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code which entailed that those citizens of 'foreign descent' who left Greece without the intention of returning, could be deprived of their Greek citizenship. Article 19 was abolished in 1998 without retroactive effect. How do Mert and his family experience their stateless status? Which were the criteria according to which a member of the Turkish-Muslim minority lost his/her citizenship? The strip of someone' s citizenship deprives people from a fundamental aspect of their identity, that of citizenship. It is interesting to raise the question how people picture their stateless status in relation to broader identity as well as human/minority rights issues.

My paper builds on the case of a human right, which was locally understood as a minority right. I aim to discuss modern notions of citizenship within the newly developed EU and international framework. My main objective is to highlight the strategic use of a right by multiple agents operating at local, national and international level in order to achieve different political outcomes. I argue that states' policies, internal minority dynamics as well as European and international-wide policies are found in dialectic relationship with each other. This is a two way process where traditional nation-states' political practices challenge and are challenged by European and international norms.