Turkey Book Talk #193 – Aron Aji discusses the life and work of Turkish author Ferit Edgü
Aji’s translations of Edgü’s excellent, austere novellas “The Wounded Age” and “Eastern Tales” were recently published in a new single volume by New York Review Books.
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Murat Somer on reframing Turkey’s Kurdish question
July 19, 2022
Turkey Book Talk episode 172 – Murat Somer, professor of political science at Koç University, on “Return to Point Zero: The Turkish-Kurdish Question and How Politics and Ideas (Re)Make Empires, Nations and States” (SUNY Press).
The book examines the historical and structural factors behind how Turkey’s Kurdish question emerged decades ago, why that formative period is still crucial today, and the factors that sustain the conflict in the present day.
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Become a member on Patreon to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, links to related content upon publication of each episode, and over 200 book reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.
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Dilek Kurban on Turkey, the Kurdish question and the ECHR
February 1, 2022
Turkey Book Talk episode 160 – Dilek Kurban, Max Weber postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute and adjunct faculty at the Hertie School in Berlin, on “Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict” (Cambridge University Press).
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Become a member on Patreon to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, links to related content upon publication of episodes, and over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.
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Ramazan Aras on the past and present of the Turkey-Syria border
December 7, 2021
Turkey Book Talk episode 156 – Ramazan Aras, professor of social and cultural anthropology at Istanbul’s Ibn Haldun University, on “The Wall: The Making and Unmaking of the Turkish-Syrian Border” (Palgrave Macmillan).
The book examines the effect on local Kurdish communities of the foundation of the Turkey-Syria border in 1923 and its hardening in subsequent decades, leading most recently to Turkey’s building of a hi-tech security wall along the length of the border.
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Become a member on Patreon to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, and over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.
Check out and sign up to Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter.
Turkey Book Talk episode #148 – Ömer Tekdemir, lecturer in political economy at Coventry University, on “Constituting the Political Economy of the Kurds: Social Embeddedness, Hegemony and Identity” (Routledge).
The book is a sweeping account of the social, political and economic circumstances shaping the emergence of collective Kurdish identity from the late Ottoman era to today’s Turkey.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Gülay Türkmen on Turks, Kurds and the limits of religious unity
December 22, 2020
Turkey Book Talk #131 – Gülay Türkmen, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Göttingen, on “Under the Banner of Islam: Turks, Kurds and the Limits of Religious Unity” (Oxford University Press).
The book addresses how Islam has been used as a tool of both unity and resistance by various sides in Turkey’s Kurdish question.
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Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #118 – Serhun Al on the historical origins of Turkey’s Kurdish issue and the latest crackdown on the Kurdish movement.
Al is assistant professor at Izmir Economics University, 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) as well as a number of academic article on the Kurdish issue.
Download the episode or listen below.
Listen to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
Follow Turkey Book Talk on Facebook or Twitter
Check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Deniz Çifçi on the fissures within Kurdish politics in Turkey
September 24, 2019
Turkey Book Talk episode #99 – Deniz Çifçi on “The Kurds and the Politics of Turkey: Agency, Territory and Religion” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury).
Based on extensive on-the-ground research, the book describes the diversity of interest and opinion among Kurds in Turkey, addressing differences in language, tribal affiliation, religion and ideology.
While news coverage and analysis often see the Kurds as a homogeneous group with unified demands, Çifçi paints a more nuanced picture.
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This book is one of over 400 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s Turkey/Ottoman history category, which you can get a 35% discount on if you sign up to become a Turkey Book Talk member. Members also get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of 90+ episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Sign up as a member to support Turkey Book Talk via Patreon.
Turkey Book Talk episode #66 – Cengiz Erişen of Istanbul’s Yeditepe University on “Political Behavior and the Emotional Citizen: Participation and Reaction in Turkey” (Palgrave Macmillan), focusing on the months between the June 2015 and November 2015 elections.
Our conversation also takes in the current campaign for the snap presidential and parliamentary elections, the surprisingly energetic performance of main opposition candidate Muharrem İnce, and the critical importance of the Kurdish issue.
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Here’s my review of the book from a couple of weeks ago.
Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Membership gives you full transcripts in English and Turkish of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire Turkey Book Talk archive (over 60 conversations so far), and access to an exclusive 30% discount on over 200 Turkey/Ottoman History titles published by IB Tauris.
Turkey Book Talk episode #54 – EZGİ BAŞARAN on her book FRONTLINE TURKEY: THE CONFLICT AT THE HEART OF THE MIDDLE EAST (IB Tauris), a 200-page account of the collapse of the Kurdish peace process, the rise and fall of the Gülen movement, and deepening authoritarianism.
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Here’s my review of the book at HDN.
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* ONE WEEK LEFT FOR OUR SPECIAL OFFER *
You’ve only got until the end of 2017 to 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 pledge to Turkey Book Talk via Patreon. Many thanks to current supporters Michelle Zimmer, Steve Bryant, Jan-Markus Vömel, Celia Jocelyn Kerslake, Aaron Ataman, Max Hoffman, Andrew MacDowall, Paul Levin, Ayla Jean Yackley and Tan Tunalı.
Many thanks for listening all year. Here’s to a podcast-filled 2018!
The Turkey director of International Crisis Group, NIGAR GÖKSEL, joins the podcast to discuss their recent report “MANAGING TURKEY’S PKK CONFLICT: THE CASE OF NUSAYBIN.”
The report examines the 33-year conflict between the Turkish security forces and the PKK through ground-level research in Nusaybin, a small Kurdish-majority town in Mardin province that has been particularly badly hit by violence since the collapse of the peace process in summer 2015.
Download the episode or listen below.
Here’s a link to the report we discuss. It is also downloadable in PDF form. Here it is in Turkish.
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Inside a home in Silopi ruined in clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces in January 2016. (Source: Wikimedia commons)
*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.
Ryan Gingeras on Turkey’s ‘deep state of crisis’
May 19, 2017
RYAN GINGERAS, associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, joins Turkey Book Talk once again. This time he is discussing his report, penned for Washington’s Bipartisan Policy Center, “DEEP STATE OF CRISIS: RE-ASSESSING RISKS TO THE TURKISH STATE.”
Download the episode or listen below.
Here’s a link to the PDF of the report we are discussing.
Subscribe to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / RSS
Ryan previously appeared on the podcast last year to discuss his book “The Fall of the Sultanate: The Great War and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1922” (Oxford University Press):
He also joined to discuss his biography of Atatürk: “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: Heir to an Empire” (Oxford University Press):
*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.