Breaking the Cycle of Nationalism: The EU, Regional Policy and the Minority of Western Thrace, Greece

Abstract

This case study examines the regional reforms towards decentralization and the creation of sub-national institutions within the framework of EU structural policy in the Greek region of Thrace during the 1990s. Inhabited by a Greek Christian majority and a Turkish Muslim minority, the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s witnessed sharp divisions and escalating tensions along ethnic lines. The article analyses the nature and scope of minority politics and its apparent shift in an integrative direction in recent years, away from an exclusive support for the politics of Turkish nationalism. It explores the argument that the establishment of sub-national institutions in the context of EU cohesion policy attenuates nationalist antagonisms and redefines ethnic politics around development goals. Finally, it discusses the implications of the Thrace case study for the relationship between the state, national-ethnic identity and citizenship in the European context.