From Emergency to Normality: How Crisis Governance Sacralizes the State in Turkey

In what ways do emergency policies implemented during crises gradually become accepted and morally justified as time passes? Utilizing a policy feedback approach, this paper investigates how ongoing crises in Turkey have facilitated the sanctification of government authority via religious populist rule. Examining the time after the 2016 coup, the research explores how emergency legislation and special policy actions - initially presented as short-term reactions to significant dangers - were slowly reshaped into lasting governance methods through narratives influenced by religion. The article contends that crisis governance under the AKP functions via a self-reinforcing feedback mechanism: emergency measures create moral narratives based on religious nationalism, which subsequently foster citizen compliance and validate the growth of executive power. Religion acts as a feedback enhancer by presenting extraordinary actions as divinely approved responsibilities to safeguard the “moral nation” from both internal and external threats. As time passes, this process normalizes exceptional states, alters institutional boundaries, and redefines the relationships between state and society. The paper relies on qualitative discourse analysis of legal texts, policy documents, and institutional practices in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt. The analysis outlines how consecutive crises, including security risks, economic turmoil, and cultural divisions, interact cumulatively instead of intermittently, leading to lasting effects on policy feedback. By framing religious populism as a tool for policy feedback instead of simply a rhetorical approach, the paper adds to the literature on crisis governance by underscoring the enduring political effects of sacralized emergency rule. It demonstrates that crisis-driven policies not only increase state power but also instill moral views of authority and obedience in political institutions and citizen expectations, yielding enduring effects on democratic governance.