Kopenhag Kriterleri'nin "Azınlık Haklarına Saygı ve Azınlık Haklarının Korunması" maddesinin uygulanması : Slovakya örneği.

The aim of this thesis is to observe the implementation of the Copenhagen criteria in the context of ‘respect for and protection of minority rights’ during the accession process of Slovakia. EU’s membership conditionality enforces candidate countries to improve the situation of minority groups within their borders. The main motivation of the EU in this process is to eliminate the reasons which cause ethnic conflicts in the continent and to prevent the escalation of minority-related problems into the EU territory. Slovakia which experienced a difficult accession process depending on the fulfilment of political criterion, constitutes an important case for the evaluation of minority clause. This thesis examines minority issue in a historical framework and specifically investigates the implementation of the Copenhagen criteria’s minority clause in the EU’s enlargement process. EU’s conditionality which is its main tool in the enlargement, lacks clear-cut norms and standards regarding minority rights. Furthermore, there is a duality between internal and external policies of the Union on the issue of minority rights. In addition to this duality, the approach of the Union towards minority issue acquires a different character in different accession processes. This thesis argues that the lack of well-defined norms and standards, the duality between EU’s internal and external minority policies and changing approaches of the Union in different accession processes complicate the implementation and the monitoring of minority clause giving rise to allegations of double standards in the enlargement process.M.S. - Master of Scienc