Kosova Türklerinin Tarihten Bugüne Kimlik Mücadelesi
From Yesterday to Today: The Kosovo Turks’ Struggle for Identity

Summary/Abstract: The history of the Balkans with its geography, cultural, political and strategic standing is a region that first had close ties with the Ottoman Empire and later with the Republic of Turkey. In this geography, historically the Kosovo Turks, within the Muslim Turkish population left from the time of the Ottoman Empire, have become a social element that has continued their struggle for existence in the region up to the present time. As with the other Balkan Turks, the standing of the Kosovo Turks in the past together with the situation of being a minority in their country today has been an issue of very special circumstances and problems that is unique to them in the regions that they live. This study will consider the periods that the Kosovo Turks have lived through in their country from the past to the present and the changes that they underwent during each period; how they have held on and have been left in between in their country and despite everything how they have continued their social, political and communal activities. The main thesis of this study is that the Kosovo Turks, if not considered as a minority in the past, today are described as a minority in which their reactions against this position and their concrete situation will also be covered. At this point the expectations of the Kosovo Turks in terms of the future will also be examined and the starting point of this study of the predicament this community is faced with that has lived in Kosovo both socially and politically for centuries is centered on the main thesis that these difficulties are based on Serbian and Albanian ethnic nationalism

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