Episodes

Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Anthony Bigio on Gad Franco, Sephardi Turkish patriot in times of turmoil
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
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/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.

Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
James Meyer on the life and times of Nazim Hikmet and his generation
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
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 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.

Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Şebnem Gümüşcü on the past and future of Islamism in Turkey
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Şebnem Gümüşcü 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, while also comparing this with Islamist parties in Egypt and Tunisia.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Jul 11, 2023
Constanze Letsch on gentrification and displacement in Istanbul
Tuesday Jul 11, 2023
Tuesday Jul 11, 2023
Constanze Letsch on “Territorial Stigmatisation: Urban Renewal and Displacement in a Central Istanbul Neighbourhood” (Transcript). The book examines a controversial project to demolish and rebuild Istanbul's historic, troubled Tarlabaşı neighbourhood, the impact it had on locals, and what it tells us about today's Turkey.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Ci Demi on his surreal, unsettling photographs of Istanbul
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Ci Demi on his photographs of Istanbul, which present an eerie, unflattering image of the city through depopulated landscapes, urban sprawl and surreal juxtapositions. His new photobook "Sehri Fikri" (Notions of a City) is published by Onagöre.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
Derin Koçer on how Erdogan won and why Turkey’s opposition failed
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
Derin Koçer discusses Turkey’s election. The conversation addresses how economic woes may actually have helped Erdogan’s campaign, why the main opposition CHP repeatedly fails, whether nationalism is the real winner to emerge from the ballot boxes, and what awaits Turkey in the next five years.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday May 30, 2023
Demet Aslı Çaltekin on militarism and conscientious objection in Turkey
Tuesday May 30, 2023
Tuesday May 30, 2023
Demet Aslı Çaltekin on “Conscientious Objection in Turkey: A Socio-legal Analysis of the Right to Refuse Military Service” (Edinburgh University Press). The conversation addresses the ubiquity of militarism and nationalism in Turkey, and the impact on people who refuse to do their compulsory military service.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday May 16, 2023
Aron Aji on the unsettling work of Turkish novelist Ferit Edgü
Tuesday May 16, 2023
Tuesday May 16, 2023

Tuesday May 02, 2023
Tezcan Gümüş on enduring authoritarianism in Turkey’s democratic history
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Tezcan Gümüş on “Turkey's Political Leaders: Authoritarian Tendencies in a Democratic State” (Edinburgh University Press). The book shows how almost all major leaders in Turkey’s multi-party history have demonstrated authoritarian traits, reflecting and fostering the various failings of Turkey’s democratic system.

Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
Paul Levin on Turks and Kurds in Sweden, geopolitics and Nato
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023

Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Maureen Freely on the turbulent life and work of Turkish author Tezer Özlü
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Maureen Freely on the life and work of the late Tezer Özlü. Her translation of Özlü’s 1980 novel “Cold Nights of Childhood” has just been published for the first time in English by Serpent’s Tail.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Mar 21, 2023
Doğan Gürpınar on the intellectual order of populist Islamism in Turkey
Tuesday Mar 21, 2023
Tuesday Mar 21, 2023
Doğan Gürpınar, historian at Istanbul Technical University, on “Apparatchiks and Ideologues in Islamist Turkey: The Intellectual Order of Islamism and Populism” (Palgrave Macmillan).
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Nesi Altaras on Turkish Jews applying for Spanish and Portuguese citizenship
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Nesi Altaras on “A Privilege That Cannot Be Bought: Jews of Turkey and Citizenship Restitution from Portugal and Spain” (Libra Books). The book weighs up the motivations of Turkish Jews applying for Spanish and Portuguese passports, after both countries allowed Sephardic Jews to "reclaim" citizenship.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Selim Koru on Turkey’s earthquakes and their political aftershocks
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Selim Koru on the devastating recent earthquakes. The conversation compares their effect with the Marmara earthquake of 1999, as well as touching on the Erdogan government's response, the potential social, political and economic consequences, and the possible impact on Turkey's foreign policy.
Please consider supporting one of the groups involved in post-earthquake relief measures in Turkey and Syria.

Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Çağdaş Üngör on what Turkey and China want from Sino-Turkish relations
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Çağdaş Üngör, professor of political science and international relations at Marmara University, on the history of Turkey-China ties, Turkish public perceptions of China, Ankara's stance on China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority, and Beijing’s efforts to craft its message to Turkish public opinion.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Mostafa Minawi on Arab-Ottoman imperialists at the end of empire
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Mostafa Minawi on “Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire” (Stanford University Press). The book follows the rise and fall of a generation of Arab-origin figures who flourished in the Ottoman capital in the final years before the empire collapsed.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Greg Goalwin on religious nationalism and identity in Turkey and Ireland
Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Gregory Goalwin on “Borders of Belief: Religious Nationalism and the Formation of Identity in Ireland and Turkey” (Rutgers University Press). The book explores Catholicism in Ireland and Islam in Turkey served as fundamental building blocks of the two countries' national identity through the 20th century.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Derya Ozkul on Alevis in contemporary Turkey and abroad
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Derya Ozkul on “The Alevis in Modern Turkey and the Diaspora: Recognition, Mobilisation and Transformation” (Edinburgh University Press), a volume she co-edited with Hege Markussen.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Ryan Gingeras on the last days of the Ottoman Empire, 1918-1922
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Ryan Gingeras on “The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire 1918-1922” (Allen Lane). The conversation addresses events between the end of the First World War and the declaration of the Turkish Republic, while also touching on how these years are remembered in today's Turkey.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.

Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Enno Maessen on nostalgia and cosmopolitanism in Istanbul’s Beyoglu
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Enno Maessen, lecturer in political history at Utrecht University, on “Representing Modern Istanbul: Urban History and International Institutions in Twentieth Century Beyoglu” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book examines convulsive changes in Istanbul's historical Beyoglu district over the past century.
Become a member 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 over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.