Turkey Book Talk #216Seda Demiralp, professor of political science at Istanbul’s Işık University and non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, on what the recent surprise local election results mean for Turkish politics. 

The conversation takes in what the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) did right, what Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) did wrong, the emerging challenge to the AKP posed by the hardline Islamist Yeniden Refah Party, the performance of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, and the impact of Turkey’s economic woes.

Download the episode or listen below:

Listen to Turkey Book Talk:  iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Spotify / Google Podcasts / PlayerFM / Listen Notes

Follow : Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

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, and links to articles related to each episode.

Check out and sign up to the excellent Turkey Recap.

Turkey Book Talk #208 – Berk Esen, associate professor of political science and international relations at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, on the troubled future of Turkey’s democracy and the challenges facing its opposition parties heading into 2024.

Berk is a prolific commentator and sophisticated scholar of Turkish politics, recently co-authoring “Turkey’s New Regime: Competitive Authoritarianism” (Iletisim) along with Hakan Yavuzyilmaz and Sebnem Gumuscu. 

Download the episode or listen below:

Listen to Turkey Book Talk:  iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Spotify / Google Podcasts / PlayerFM / Listen Notes

Follow : Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

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.

Check out and sign up to the excellent Turkey Recap.

Turkey Book Talk #207 – Sinem Adar, associate at the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, on Turkey’s response to the Israel-Gaza war. 

The conversation builds on her recent article for War on the Rocks arguing that the crisis shows the limits of Turkey’s regional influence. She also co-wrote a piece for the Middle East Institute with Hamidreza Azizi, looking at how Turkey and Iran’s interests converge and diverge on this and other issues.

Download the episode or listen below:

Listen to Turkey Book Talk:  iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Spotify / Google Podcasts / PlayerFM / Listen Notes

Follow : Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

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.

Check out and sign up to the excellent Turkey Recap.

Turkey Book Talk #198 – Şebnem Gümüşcü, associate professor of political science at Middlebury College, on “Democracy or Authoritarianism: Islamist Governments in Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia” (Cambridge University Press).

The book looks in depth at how intra-party factional struggles were key in shaping the AKP’s authoritarian direction in Turkey, while also comparing this with Islamist parties that won elections in Egypt and Tunisia.

Download the episode or listen below:

Listen to Turkey Book Talk:  iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Spotify / Google Podcasts / PlayerFM / Listen Notes

Follow : Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

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 (including the book from this episode), 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.

Check out and sign up to the excellent Turkey Recap.

Turkey Book Talk episode 171Dimitar Bechev, lecturer at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford, on “Turkey Under Erdoğan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West” (Yale University Press)

The book gives a neat overview of how the country and Erdogan came to where they are today, covering domestic and foreign politics at this crucial point ahead of elections scheduled for next year.

Download the episode or listen below:

Check out Dimitar’s previous appearance on the podcast from back in August 2018.

Listen to Turkey Book Talk:  iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS

Follow us on Instagram

Follow on Facebook or Twitter

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.

Check out and sign up to the excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter.

Turkey Book Talk episode #150Soner Çağaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, on “A Sultan in Autumn: Erdogan Faces Turkey’s Uncontrollable Forces” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). 

The book describes the myriad political challenges facing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at home and abroad, and speculates about his potential response.

Download the episode or listen below:

A PDF of the book is available for free download via the Washington Institute’s website.

Listen to Turkey Book Talk:  iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS

Follow on Facebook or Twitter

Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. 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.