This thesis explores the history of minority rights and enforcement mechanisms, minority governance in five western democracies (Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, United Kingdom, and Spain) and the case of Western Thrace Muslim Turkish minority of Greece. The unit of analysis is historical minorities. The study therefore seeks to explore the nature and applicability of these rights and their role in the protection of minorities. Accordingly, the League of Nations, the United Nations, the European Institutions of Council of Europe, Organization and Security in Europe, the European Union and their related legislation concerning minorities have been scrutinized. Implementation in five European democracies has been mentioned in order to offer a preliminary comparative perspective. The bulk of the study is about the Muslim Turkish minority of Greece; elaborated within a historical, legal and political perspective; within the framework of kin-state and host-state relations, the social structure of the minority itself and their interactions with the majority whose interactions have occasionally been shaped by the legacy of history and of bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece.