Turkey’s Central Population Administrative System–Merkezi Nüfus Ídaresi Sistemi (MERNI˙S)–is at the center of the Turkish state’s efforts to establish a database of information about its population. MERNI˙S increases the state’s powers to (re)produce individuals for hegemonic purposes by adapting the state’s administrative practices to the dynamics of contemporary processes of global production. By assigning individuals a unique number that identifies them as citizens, MERNI˙S generates the necessary local conditions to align Turkey with the emerging global control society. MERNI˙S was designed to eliminate repetition and inconsistencies in the state’s information systems and to consolidate various kinds of information on its citizens. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this one-numbered system supplies perfect, rapid, and reliable services, making life easy for citizens.1 One number also indicates the centralization of power and helps solidify Turkish state authority. This is centralization not only of power but also of identification of the individual.
