@article{Kurban, author = {Kurban, Dilek}, title = {Confronting Equality: The need for constitutional protection of minorities on Turkey's path to the European Union}, series = {Columbia Human Rights Law Review}, volume = {35}, journal = {Columbia Human Rights Law Review}, number = {1}, publisher = {Columbia Law School}, address = {New York}, issn = {0090-7944}, pages = {151 -- 223}, abstract = {The article analyzes the historical development of Turkey's minority policy, its constitutional scheme, and the substance and implementation of reforms as they relate to the protection of minorities. Focusing on the reforms adopted in 2002 with the explicit purpose of granting linguistic rights to the Kurdish minority and expanding the property rights of non-Muslim minorities, the article argues that the constitutional and legislative reforms and their implementation are far from guaranteeing the constitutional protection of minorities required by the EU and committed to by the Turkish Government. Instead, it claims, they constitute much belated —if still welcome— steps toward granting some fundamental rights to members of some minority groups that leave much more to be done to achieve respect and protection for all minorities.}, language = {en} } @article{Kurban, author = {Kurban, Dilek}, title = {Shattered Hopes: When the European Court of Human Rights Shuts its Doors to the Kurdish Displaced}, series = {Perspectives on Europe}, volume = {44}, journal = {Perspectives on Europe}, number = {1}, editor = {Klumbyte, Neringa}, publisher = {Council for European Studies}, address = {Barcelona/New York}, issn = {0046-2802}, pages = {24 -- 30}, abstract = {Perhaps no other ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has so deeply disappointed the Kurdish human rights victims and rejoiced the Turkish government at the same time, as did an inadmissibility decision issued in January 2006. In İ{\c{c}}yer v. Turkey, the Court rejected as "manifestly ill-founded" the complaint by a Kurdish peasant who in 1994 had forcibly been evicted by security forces from his village. What made this decision particularly devastating for the displaced and joyous for the government was the fact that the ECtHR rejected the application of not only Mr. İ{\c{c}}yer, but also of 1,500 others whose petitions had been pending before the Court.This article traces the evolution of the ECtHR's jurisprudence on Kurdish displacement cases and argues that the Council of Europe's enlargement as well as Turkey's EU accession process has had an adverse effect on the victims' quest for justice in Strasbourg.}, language = {en} } @techreport{KurbanSozeri, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Kurban, Dilek and Sozeri, Ceren}, title = {Caught in the Wheels of Power}, publisher = {TESEV Yayinlari}, address = {Istanbul}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-21163}, pages = {84}, abstract = {Research on media independence and freedom of press in any country, particularly in Turkey, requires more than an analysis of the regulatory framework. It is the political and ideological factors that lie behind the anti-democratic and repressive laws, rather than the content and implementation of these laws that can explain why and under which circumstances an independent and free media fails to emerge in a given country. This report is an attempt to understand the legal, political and economic constraints on media freedom and independence in Turkey through a historical lens}, language = {en} }