Violations of Kurdish human rights in Turkey from 2018 to 2021 in relation to Article 2 of EU accession criteria

Abstract

This Bachelor thesis aims to explicate why, despite having links with EU for many decades, Turkey is not admitted to the EU through reviewing the standards of "respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities" listed in Article 2 TEU concerning Turkish minority- Kurds. In addition, this thesis will examine the importance of EU values. Hence, to test the hypothesis-Turkey is not able to join the EU because it does not respect human rights of its minority- Kurds- based on Article 2 TEU that forms the rationale for EU membership accession criteria “respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities”- the limitation of Kurdish human rights presence in the state from 2018 to 2021 will be applied. BTI, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and EU Country Reports, together with cases submitted to the ECtHR, provide that unless Turkey changes its attitude towards human rights perseverance of Kurds who nowadays experience limitation of their culture, language, and existence overall, it will not be able to join the EU due to the inability to meet Article 2 TEU “respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities” serving as a basis for EU membership accession criteria.