Turkey Book Talk

Serhun Al, co-editor of “Comparative Kurdish Politics in the Middle East” (Palgrave Macmillan) and author of “Patterns of Nationhood and Saving the State in Turkey” (Routledge), on the historical origins of Turkey's Kurdish issue and the latest crackdown on the Kurdish movement. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English/Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, a 35% discount on over 100 books in IB Tauris' Turkey/Ottoman history series, exclusive access to more links, and over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Oya Dursun-Özkanca, professor of political science at Elizabethtown College, on her book “Turkey-West Relations: The Politics of Intra-Alliance Opposition” (Cambridge University Press) and Ankara's grand ambitions for the post-coronavirus world. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English/Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, a 35% discount on over 100 books in IB Tauris' Turkey/Ottoman history series, exclusive access to more links, and over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Ünver Rüstem on "Ottoman Baroque: The Architectural Refashioning of Eighteenth-Century Istanbul" (Princeton University Press). The book examines the adoption of Baroque and rococo styles in Istanbul mosques between 1740 and 1800, looking at how this fits into popular ideas of Ottoman decline and Western influence. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English/Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, exclusive access to more links, and over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Michael Wuthrich of the University of Kansas on "The Pushback Against Populism: Running on 'Radical Love' in Turkey", co-authored with Melvyn Ingleby for the Journal of Democracy. The paper examines the main opposition's local election campaign in 2019, when it applied sophisticated tactics to counter the ruling party's populism. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.

Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı discuss the Meşher gallery's exhibition on Ukrainian painter Alexis Gritchenko's Istanbul years from 1919 to 1921. Gritchenko produced over 600 works in the occupied city, to which thousands of White Russians fled after the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.

Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, associate professor of history at The College of William and Mary, on “The Kizilbash Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia: Sufism, Politics and Community” (Edinburgh University Press). The book traces the origins of today's Alevis as a unified religious group back to the 15th and 16th centuries. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.

Ryan Gingeras on “Eternal Dawn: Turkey in the Age of Atatürk” (Oxford University Press) on the late Ottoman and early republican period, examining the paradoxes behind the rise and consecration of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from the First World War, through the Turkish war of independence, and to his death in 1938. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.

Omar Kadkoy, policy analyst at the TEPAV think tank, on the over 3.5 million Syrian migrants and refugees in Turkey, the Ankara-EU migrant deal, shifting public opinion, and the legal future of Syrians in the country. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.

Onur İşçi on “Turkey and the Soviet Union during World War II” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book counter-intuitively argues that the breakdown in Turkey-Soviet relations in the Second World War and at the start of the Cold War was an anomaly in a 20th century in which Turkey and Russia in fact cooperated widely. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.

Ayşe Zarakol on “After Defeat: How the East Learned to Live with the West” (Cambridge University Press). The book examines how a sense of “stigma” has dogged the way modern Turkey engages with the Western-led international order, as well as comparable cases of Japan and Russia. Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.