The space of permanent and state-level exceptional security measures: formative years of Israel and Turkey

Abstract

Studies examining the spatial patterns of exceptional security measures focus on constructed spaces or national territories exposed to international military intervention. Contemporary literature defines these spaces as zones of lawlessness where the exception prevails. By examining the security policies in the historical homelands of the Palestinians in Israel and the Kurds in Turkey, this article shows how exceptional security and the law co-constitute each other. Through a comparative historical analysis of the formative years of the Israeli and Turkish states, we argue that permanent exceptional security measures in territories inhabited by minority citizens are relevant to the political context in which the constituent power frames the political characteristics of the nation. In the process, exceptional security measures coexisting with the law become instrumental in maintaining and reproducing the distinction between the ‘legitimate members’ of the nation and the ‘enemies’ of the nation/state. The coexistence of exceptional security measures with the legal system challenges the conventional understanding of the exception and its dichotomous relationship with the norm, as outlined by Schmitt and Agamben. Instead, the conceptual framework of ‘legal violence,’ as articulated by Benjamin, offers a more comprehensive perspective for understanding the early years of the Israeli and Turkish states.