Bachelor Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: Sehr gut, University of Vienna (Institut fur Politikwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: The question of whether Turkey is ready to join the European Union has been discussed a lot in recent years and many arguments in favor and against an accession have been put forward. This thesis deals especially with those aspects of the debate concerning human and minority rights. Though Turkey has made some progress in that field too, a lot of issues are yet unresolved; most importantly the denial of the genocide against Christians at the beginning of the last century and the associated discrimination of non-Moslems that still exists today. Unfortunately, these points are rarely acknowledged and economic issues seem to be of higher importance. Only few people even know about the atrocities that took place a century ago and those who do, mostly connect it with the Armenians and - possibly - the Pontiac Greeks; one group of victims seems to be utterly forgotten - the Syriacs. This is of course not to say that the other minorities' persecution is of lesser significance, but this thesis will focus on the Syriacs, in order to give those a voice, who were almost completely unheard up to now. In the course of the following chapters it will be argued that Turkey has to come to terms with its past - which necessarily has to include recognizing the genocide - if it wants to become a member of the European Union and that it is up to the EU to make that topic a priority. The accession talks, if conducted in the right way, could offer a unique possibility to bring along a long-overdue change in Turkey's human rights policy. Past events have shown that there is potential for improvement. However, to achieve this, certain facts have to be addressed; ignoring them would be to the detriment of all. To show this, the first chapters will provide the historical background

Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Frieden und Konflikte, Sicherheit, Note: "2," Universitat Wien (Institut fur Politikwissenschaft), Veranstaltung: Seminar, Sprache: Deutsch, Anmerkungen: "If humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica - to gross and systematic violations of human rights that affect every precept of our common humanity?" (Kofi Annan)1, Abstract: "If humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica - to gross and systematic violations of human rights that affect every precept of our common humanity?" (Kofi Annan) Dieses Zitat von Kofi Annan vor der UN-Vollversammlung soll einen ersten Eindruck von der Kontroverse geben, mit welcher sich dieses Essay beschaftigt. Es geht hierbei um die Frage, unter welchen Umstanden ein Recht auf humanitare Intervention behauptet werden kann bzw. wann ein solches militarisches Handeln sogar als Pflicht anzusehen ist. Einer der Hauptkonfliktpunkte dabei dreht sich, wie es das obige Zitat anspricht, um das Verhaltnis zwischen Souveranitatsprinzip und den Menschenrechten. Diese Arbeit basiert auf der Annahme, dass es grundsatzlich Situationen gibt, in denen eine humanitare Intervention notwendig ist, um Menschrechte (und vor allem Menschenleben) zu schutzen; diese muss jedoch unter bestimmten Rahmenbedingungen durchgefuhrt werden. Damit beschaftigt sich auch der Hauptteil der Arbeit. Aufbauend auf den Text von Michael Walzer soll dabei vor allem auf die Punkte des Anlasses, der Akteure und der Vorgehensweise sowie auf die Frage nach der Beendigung einer humanitaren Intervention eingegangen werden. Zunachst soll jedoch eine Definition des Begriffes humanitare Intervention" gefunden und ein kurzer Uberblick uber die gegenwartige volkerrechtliche Basis und spezifische Ereignisse in der Geschichte der m