Examining the on-going dilemma of the management of diversity inTurkey from a
historical and legal perspective, this book arguesthat the state's failure to
accommodate ethno-religious diversityis attributable to the founding philosophy
of Turkish nationalismand its heavy penetration into the socio-political and
legal fibreof the country. It examines the articulation and influence of
thefounding principle in law and in the higher courts' jurisprudencein relation
to the concepts of nation, citizenship, and minorities.In so doing, it adopts a
sceptical approach to the claim thatTurkey has a civic nationalist state, not
least on the grounds thatthe legal system is generously littered by references
to theTurkish ethnie and to Sunni Islam. Also