Engaging minorities under emergency

Turkish modular emergency and the Kurdish case revisited

Bibliographic Data

ID21156567
AuthorsAlper Kaliber (0000-0002-0160-8566, Department of International Relations, Altınbaş University, Istanbul, Turkey, corresponding author), Matthew Whiting (0000-0001-9589-6409, Department of Politics, The University of York, York, UK)
Year2024
Volume24
Issue3
Pages577-594
Publication date2024-07-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-3857 • E-ISSN: 1743-9639
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14683857.2023.2170725
OpenAlexW4319793979
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited45

Minorities are particularly vulnerable during times of emergency, particularly those that challenge the state. However, it is not understood how minorities can be targeted through emergency decrees despite the government agreeing they had nothing to do with the reasons for declaring the state of emergency. The Turkish emergency in 2016 highlights this little-understood tendency where the government constructed an emergency around a threat from coup plotters, but then much of the subsequent extraordinary legislation targeted the Kurdish minority. We argue that this was possible because the Turkish government engaged in modular emergency rule. Modular emergency rule combines modes of ordinary rule with emergency powers, thus blurring the boundaries between the two. Emergency measures were laid on top of already existing policies that sought to restrict Kurdish politics in public life. In this way, modular emergency rule became more than just a transient form of government

Legislation · Modular design · Political science · Politics · State of emergency · Turkish · Computer Science · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Public Administration · Turkey's Politics and Society

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