ABSTRACT
Autonomy means the legal recognition of minorities and minorities rights. The status of ethnic minorities is the crucial issue at stake in the process of nation-building, both in old and especially in the newly created states. The greatest threat to the security of many states is thus their internal conflict with different kinds of minorities, which is in most cases a consequence of their failure to find strength in diversity. Territorial autonomy is utilized when the population of the autonomous region has special ethnic or other characteristics justifying a privileged position. The difference between territorial and personal autonomy has been defined in the following terms: territorial autonomy is established in a delineated portion of the territory of a state and it relates to all the inhabitants within the area. Autonomies have, in principle, a special link with regionalism and especially with cross-border regional co-operation.
