ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author considers the transformation of the exceptional measures from a historical perspective, with the aim of exposing the evolutionary pattern of the states of exceptions in modern Turkey. In order to do so, he considers the round-the-clock curfews as a signpost. Even though Turkey is living proof of exception being the norm, he suggests that the round-the-clock curfews expose a pattern of anomie within the paradigm of exception; that is to say, that some exceptional measures are even more exceptional than others are. Although in the interwar period exceptional measures were quite common among nations across the continents, it is worth noting that in Turkey’s case what triggered the single-party regime was not an outside threat but rather an inside one. Regardless of its ethnic diversity, the Republic of Turkey is commonly referred to as the Turkish state rather than the state of Turkey.
