Linguistic rights of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Sosyoloji Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2007

Öğrenci: CENGİZ HAKSÖZ

Danışman: AYŞEGÜL AYDINGÜN

Özet:

This thesis analyses linguistic policies in Bulgaria, during the Ottoman, monarchical, communist and post-communist periods and its effects on the Turkish minority in Bulgaria. The linguistic policies in Bulgaria did not follow consistent policies; on the contrary, it followed different policies in different periods. The aim of this thesis is to analyse how the Turkish minority experiences and perceives linguistic rights in the post-communist period, such as study of and in Turkish language, Turkish minority media, use of minority personal names, naming of topographical places and the status of Turkish language in official and administrative institutions. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were carried out in Işıklar (Samuil) municipality in Bulgaria, where Turks constitute the absolute majority of the population. As a result of the analyses of the experiences of the Turkish minority, it was observed that (Turkish) linguistic rights and language were experienced by the Turkish minority in terms of ethnolinguistic identity. It is concluded that symbolic power and diglossia relationships between Turkish and Bulgarian languages affected the ways of perception of (Turkish) linguistic rights by the Turkish minority in Bulgaria.