Amid the ongoing face-off in the Arab Gulf, a particularly topical new podcast episode with BIROL BAŞKAN, an assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. We discuss his book TURKEY AND QATAR IN THE TANGLED GEOPOLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST (Palgrave Macmillan).
Download the episode or listen below.
Here’s my Hürriyet Daily News review of the book.
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / RSS
*SPECIAL OFFER*
You can support Turkey Book Talk by taking advantage of a 33% discount plus free delivery (cheaper than Amazon) on five different titles, courtesy of Hurst Publishers:
- ‘Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State’ by Olivier Roy
- ‘The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent’ by Benjamin Fortna
- ‘The New Turkey and its Discontents’ by Simon Waldman and Emre Çalışkan
- ‘The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East’ by Roger Hardy
- ‘Out of Nowhere: The Syrian Kurds in Peace and War’ by Michael Gunter
Follow this link to get that discount from Hurst Publishers.
Another way to support the podcast, if you enjoy or benefit from it: Make a donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Michelle Zimmer, Steve Bryant, Jan-Markus Vömel, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
Cemil Aydin on the illusion of the Muslim world
May 5, 2017
CEMIL AYDIN, associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, speaks to Turkey Book Talk about “THE IDEA OF THE MUSLIM WORLD: A GLOBAL INTELLECTUAL HISTORY” (Harvard University Press).
It is a bracing book. Aydin argues that the idea there is a discreet “Muslim world” with a set of shared essential, civilisation-defining characteristics is little more than “ahistorical romanticism,” a fantastical illusion that has never existed.
Download the episode or listen below.
My review will be published in the coming weeks in the Times Literary Supplement, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / RSS
*SPECIAL OFFER*
You can support Turkey Book Talk by taking advantage of a 33% discount plus free delivery (cheaper than Amazon) on five different titles, courtesy of Hurst Publishers:
- ‘Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State’ by Olivier Roy
- ‘The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent’ by Benjamin Fortna
- ‘The New Turkey and its Discontents’ by Simon Waldman and Emre Çalışkan
- ‘The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East’ by Roger Hardy
- ‘Out of Nowhere: The Syrian Kurds in Peace and War’ by Michael Gunter
Follow this link to get that discount from Hurst Publishers.
Another way to support the podcast, if you enjoy or benefit from it: Make a donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Michelle Zimmer, Steve Bryant, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
Queen Mary University fellow MEHMET KURT joins the Turkey Book Talk podcast to chat about “KURDISH HIZBULLAH IN TURKEY: ISLAMISM, VIOLENCE AND THE STATE” (Pluto Press).
It is a remarkable book based on Kurt’s personal experiences, which gave him extraordinary access to a shady and secretive group.
Download the episode or listen below.
Here’s my review of the book at HDN.
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / RSS
Allow me to repost this related conversation from a few weeks ago with Cuma Çiçek on his book “The Kurds of Turkey: National, Religious and Economic Identities” (IB Tauris):
*SPECIAL OFFER*
You can support Turkey Book Talk by taking advantage of a 33% discount plus free delivery (cheaper than Amazon) on five different titles, courtesy of Hurst Publishers:
- ‘Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State’ by Olivier Roy
- ‘The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent’ by Benjamin Fortna
- ‘The New Turkey and its Discontents’ by Simon Waldman and Emre Çalışkan
- ‘The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East’ by Roger Hardy
- ‘Out of Nowhere: The Syrian Kurds in Peace and War’ by Michael Gunter
Follow this link to get that discount from Hurst Publishers.
Another way to support the podcast, if you enjoy or benefit from it: Make a donation to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake and Aaron Ataman.
‘Reis,’ Turkey’s referendum, new book offer
March 20, 2017
A bit late in posting this. But last week I wrote for War on the Rocks about Turkey’s upcoming referendum and a trip to the cinema to see “Reis” (The Chief), the bonkers biopic/hagiography of President Erdoğan.
Here’s a trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcuI3YRBhyw
The film is really bad – not even so bad it’s good, just bad.
In other news, there’s a new addition to the special 1/3 off discount for Turkey Book Talk listeners on selected books from Hurst Publishers: Renowned sociologist Olivier Roy’s new book “Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State.”
So now you can support the podcast by ordering any of the following titles for at least 33% off plus free delivery (cheaper than Amazon!):
- “The New Turkey and its Discontents” by Simon Waldman and Emre Çalışkan
- “The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East” by Roger Hardy
- “Out of Nowhere: The Syrian Kurds in Peace and War” by Michael Gunter
- “The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent” by Benjamin Fortna
- “Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State” by Olivier Roy
Order through this page on the Hurst website.
Cheers!
(I will post a new podcast episode with Basharat Peer on his book “A Question of Order: India, Turkey, and the Return of Strongmen” later this week.)
Özge Samancı on ‘Dare to Disappoint: Growing up in Turkey’
October 12, 2016
Özge Samancı talks to Turkey Book Talk about her bestselling graphic memoir “Dare to Disappoint: Growing up in Turkey” (Farrar Straux Giroux). It’s a charming book and everyone I know who has read it raves about it.
Download the podcast episode or listen below.
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
Here’s my review of the book from a few months ago.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Andrew Cruickshank and Aaron Ataman.
Michael Wuthrich on the history of elections in Turkey and the future of Turkish democracy
September 17, 2016
New Turkey Book Talk episode with Michael Wuthrich, chatting about “National Elections in Turkey: People, Politics and the Party System” (Syracuse University Press).
This really is an excellent book that overhauls much conventional wisdom about Turkish politics shared by right and left.
Unlike the deceptively boring title of the book, this episode’s title is stupidly ambitious. But we do cover a lot of ground. I’m really pleased with it – hope you enjoy/learn from it.
Download the episode or listen below.
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
Here’s my review of the book in HDN.
Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant, Andrew Cruickshank and Aaron Ataman.
Shadi Hamid on ‘Islamic exceptionalism’
June 4, 2016
Brookings Institution senior fellow Shadi Hamid joins the pod to discuss his new book ‘Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World’ (St Martins).
Download the episode or listen below:
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
And here’s my review of the book at HDN.
Support the podcast with a per episode donation via Patreon! Many thanks to current supporters Özlem Beyarslan, Steve Bryant and Andrew Cruickshank.
Cihan Tuğal on the fall of the ‘Turkish model’
April 16, 2016
Cihan Tuğal, a sociologist at UC Berkeley, chats about “The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism” (Verso), charting how Turkey went from a model “Muslim democracy” for the Middle East to an increasingly authoritarian state.
Download the podcast or listen below:
Subscribe: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
Here’s my review of the book at Hürriyet Daily News.
Support the Turkey Book Talk podcast via my Patreon account. You can help me keep producing the podcast by making a monetary donation, big or small, on a per episode basis! Many thanks to current supporters Sera Aleksandra Marshall and Andrew Cruickshank.
Mustafa Gurbuz on ‘rival Kurdish movements in Turkey’
March 12, 2016
The latest Turkey Book Talk podcast is with Mustafa Gürbüz, the author of “Rival Kurdish Movements in Turkey: Transforming Ethnic Conflict” (Amsterdam University Press).
Apologies for the delay in dropping this latest pod. I’ve had a technical nightmare.
Download the podcast or listen below.
Subscribe: iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Facebook / RSS
Here’s my review of the book at Hürriyet Daily News. Here’s the interview in written form.
Here’s another interview I did with him from last year about his research on the outlawed Kurdish Islamist militant group Hizbullah.
Finally, reposting my recent podcast with Frederike Geerdink discussing the Kurdish issue.
Markus Dressler on the ‘making of Turkish Alevi Islam’
November 28, 2015
This week’s interview/podcast is with Markus Dressler, author of the book “Writing Religion: The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam.” The book examines how the idea of Alevism is an almost entirely modern concept, formed towards the end of the Ottoman Empire as part of efforts to integrate disparate Anatolian religious groups into the Turkish and Muslim nation.
Download a podcast of our conversation.
Here’s a transcript of the interview at the Hürriyet Daily News.
Here’s my review of the book.
Subscribe to the Turkey Book Talk podcast via iTunes, PodBean, or Soundcloud.
NB – I’ve also just created a Facebook page for the podcast, where I’ll be posting new episodes. Check it out here.
Cengiz Şişman on the Dönmes of Turkey
November 14, 2015
This week I spoke to Cengiz Şişman about his new book on the history of the Dönmes, a crypto-religious sect that first developed around Jewish messiah Sabbatai Sevi in cities around the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.
Download a podcast of our conversation. Or listen below:
Subscribe to the Turkey Book Talk podcast via iTunes, PodBean, or Soundcloud.
Read an edited transcript of the interview at the Hürriyet Daily News.
And read my review of Şişman’s book, “The Burden of Silence: Sabbatai Sevi and the Evolution of the Ottoman-Turkish Dönmes.”
I should say that the two things in the title are unrelated.
My interview this week was with Toni Alaranta of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, discussing his new book “National and State Identity in Turkey: The Transformation of the Republic’s Status in the International System” (Rowman). In the book, Alaranta traces how the entrenchment in power of authoritarian political Islam in Turkey after 2002 was critically aided by the West’s misguided search for a “moderate Muslim democracy” after the end of the Cold War and the 9/11 terror attacks.
Read the interview at the Hürriyet Daily News here.
And read my review of the book here.
This also marks my first step into the world of podcasting. From now on I’ll be publishing these author interviews in audio as well as written form, through my new podcast “Turkey Book Talk.” The podcast will include some extra parts that didn’t make the written edit, as well as some fancy music, etc.
Click here to listen to the first episode (a work in progress as I’m still figuring out the best host, player, etc).
To subscribe to the feed, visit my PodBean page.
Please spread the word to anyone you think may be interested, and do get in touch with any suggestions on how I can improve the podcast!
Turkey Book Talk 