Turkey Book Talk

Ozge Samanci on her graphic novel “Evil Eyes Sea” (Uncivilized Books). The semi-autobiographical story is a murder mystery centred on a group of students at Istanbul's Boğaziçi University in the 1990s. It follows up from her highly successful graphic novel “Dare to Disappoint”. Become a member on Patreon or Substack to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman Hist...

Sami Kent on “The Endless Country: A Personal Journey Through Turkey’s First Hundred Years” (Picador). The book paints a portrait of Turkey by combining accounts of key events with Sami’s personal reflections on growing up learning about his paternal homeland from afar, before coming to work in the country as a journalist. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon  or  Substack . Memb...

Istanbul-based photojournalist Bradley Secker discusses his work on migration, LGBT+ asylum seekers in the Middle East and Europe, the difficulties of practicing journalism in Turkey and the broader state of photojournalism. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on  Patreon  or  Substack . Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, trans...

Bilge Yesil on “Talking Back to the West: How Turkey Uses Counter-Hegemony to Reshape the Global Communication Order” (University of Illinois Press). The book examines how Erdogan's regime has mobilised English-language media to counter foreign criticism and project Turkey as a rising power opposed to Western imperialism, supposedly giving a voice to oppressed Muslims around the world. Become a me...

Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky on “Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State” (Stanford University Press). The book explores the forced migration from the Russian Empire of around one million Muslims, who settled in the Ottoman Empire between the 1850s and World War One. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Patreon members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman His...

Emre Toros on “Electoral Integrity in Turkey” (Edinburgh University Press). The book weighs up the country's democratic credentials after over two decades of rule by Erdogan's party, painting an ambivalent picture combining both optimism and pessimism. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Patreon members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbu...

Christopher Phillips on “Battleground: Ten Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East” (Yale University Press). The conversation explores the region's shifting rivalries, as well as how Turkey’s push for greater influence in Syria, Iraq and Libya has impacted its ties with other ambitious powers. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Patreon members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman...

Seda Demiralp on what the recent local election results mean for Turkish politics. The conversation takes in what the main opposition CHP did right, what the ruling AKP did wrong, the emerging challenge to Erdogan posed by the Yeniden Refah Party, and the performance of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Patreon members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman...

Andrew Finkel, a veteran journalist based in Turkey for decades, on his debut novel “The Adventure of the Second Wife: The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Sultan” (Even Keel Press). It is a sprawling story exploring the mystery of Abdulhamid II’s obsession with Sherlock Holmes. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Patreon members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman His...

Bahar Baser on “An Exodus from Turkey: Tales of Migration and Exile” (Edinburgh University Press), co-edited with Erdi Ozturk. The book examines the current wave of migration from Turkey, focusing on the experiences of 21 different public figures living overseas. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB T...

İlkay Yılmaz on “Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility, 1876-1908” (Syracuse University Press). The book examines how paranoia about nationalist, anarchist and revolutionary movements spread during the era of Abdulhamid II, prompting new methods aiming to control subjects of the Ottoman state. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon. Members get a 35% discount on all T...

Alexander Christie-Miller on “To The City: Life and Death Along the Ancient Walls of Istanbul” (William Collins). He worked for many years as the Times of London's Turkey correspondent and his book is a sophisticated meditation on contemporary life and politics in the country. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books pub...

Tuğba Tekerek on “Provincial Universities: The AK Party’s Backyard Campus" (İletişim). The book examines the government's push to open over 100 universities across Turkey over the past two decades, painting a picture of falling academic standards but increased outlets for the ruling party's religious nationalist ideology.  Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon. Members get a 35% d...

Timur Hammond on “Placing Islam: Geographies of Connection in Twentieth-Century Istanbul” (University of California Press). The book is a sociological and historical study tracing the changing character of Istanbul's Eyüpsultan district, its industrial and commercial history, and its role in the emergence of political Islam in Turkey. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon. Members...

İlkim Büke Okyar on “Arabs in Turkish Political Cartoons, 1876-1950: National Self and Non-National Other” (Syracuse University Press). The conversation addresses how Arabs are typically viewed in Turkish popular culture, also examining the impact of the influx of Syrian migrants since 2011 and the Israel-Gaza war. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turk...

Berk Esen on the troubled future of Turkey’s democracy and the challenges facing its opposition parties heading into 2024. Berk recently co-authored “Turkey’s New Regime: Competitive Authoritarianism” (Iletisim) along with Hakan Yavuzyilmaz and Sebnem Gumuscu. Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsb...

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 arguing that the crisis shows the limits of Turkey’s regional influence. Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books...

Cihan Dizdaroğlu on “Turkish-Greek Relations: Foreign Policy in a Securitisation Framework” (Edinburgh University Press). The book looks at how ties between Athens and Ankara have gone through various cycles of improvement and deterioration from the early Republic of Turkey to today.  Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books publi...

Alp Yenen on “A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey: A History in a Hundred Fragments” (Leiden University Press). The book includes 100 chapters, written by over 70 scholars, examining different aspects of Turkey's political, social, cultural and economic history on the centenary of the republic's founding. Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottom...

Nilay Özok-Gündoğan on “The Kurdish Nobility in the Ottoman Empire: Loyalty, Autonomy and Privilege” (Edinburgh University Press). The book narrates the rise and fall of the Kurdish nobility in the Ottoman east, as well as how their autonomy was abolished as the empire modernised and centralised from the 19th century. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all T...

Onur İşçi on “Turkey at a Crossroads: The Soviet Threat and Postwar Realignment, 1945-1946”, published in the journal Diplomatic History. The article reexamines the time when the Soviet Union made military and territorial demands, ultimately pushing Turkey towards Nato. The conversation also touches on Ankara's complicated present-day policy towards Moscow. Become a member  to support Turkey Book...

Spyros Sofos on “Turkish Politics and ‘The People’: Mass Mobilisation and Populism” (Edinburgh University Press). The book delves into the ambiguities behind the term “the people” from the late Ottoman era to today, and how religious, secularist, left-wing and right-wing projects have used it for different ends. Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/...

Pat Yale on “Following Miss Bell: Travels Around Turkey in the Footsteps of Gertrude Bell” (Trailblazer). The book tracks the footsteps of archaeologist, writer and explorer Gertrude Bell, who travelled extensively throughout Anatolia from 1899 until the outbreak of the First World War. Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books pub...

Anthony Gad Bigio on “A Sephardi Turkish Patriot: Gad Franco in the Turmoil of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic” (Hamilton Books). The book describes the turbulent and difficult life of Gad Franco, a prominent journalist, social activist and lawyer in the late Ottoman and early republican eras. Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoma...

James Meyer on “Red Star over the Black Sea: Nazım Hikmet and His Generation” (Oxford University Press), a new biography of the great 20th century poet. It draws on previously untapped archival sources to situate Nazım Hikmet within a broader generation of border-crossing Turkish communists. Become a member  to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History book...