Turkey Book Talk

William Armstrong

Conversations with journalists, academics and writers on Turkey and its region. A new episode is posted every two weeks.

  • 28 minutes 50 seconds
    Zozan Pehlivan on climatic shifts behind late Ottoman conflicts

    Zozan Pehlivan on "The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century" (Cambridge University Press). The book explores how extreme climate disruptions were a major factor behind tensions between Christian Armenian peasants and Muslim Kurdish pastoralists in eastern Anatolia in the 19th century.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    7 January 2025, 2:00 am
  • 42 minutes 8 seconds
    Samuel Hirst on a century of Ankara-Moscow cooperation

    Samuel J. Hirst on "Against the Liberal Order: The Soviet Union, Turkey, and Statist Internationalism, 1919-1939" (Oxford University Press). The conversation addresses key episodes of collaboration between Ankara and Moscow on political, industrial and cultural projects since the early republican era.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    17 December 2024, 2:00 am
  • 37 minutes 45 seconds
    Ralph Hubbell on the work of Turkish literary giant OÄŸuz Atay

    Ralph Hubbell on translating OÄŸuz Atay's "Waiting for the Fear" (New York Review Books). Atay is widely seen as one the great Turkish fiction writers of the 20th century, but has largely yet to appear in English until now.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    12 December 2024, 8:18 pm
  • 34 minutes 24 seconds
    Jennifer Hattam on Istanbul's shifting cultural landscape

    Jennifer Hattam reflects on a decade-and-a-half of reporting on Turkey's environmental, political and cultural agenda, as well as wrenching changes in journalism and staying afloat amid Istanbul's relentless urban upheaval.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    19 November 2024, 2:00 am
  • 37 minutes 9 seconds
    Salim Çevik on Turkey's Middle East reset

    Salim Çevik on his recent SWP paper "Turkey’s Reconciliation Efforts in the Middle East: Ambitions and Constraints in a Changing Regional Order". The paper examines Erdogan's shift away from trying to overthrow the established regional order towards rapprochement with Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Syria and others.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    5 November 2024, 2:00 am
  • 40 minutes 10 seconds
    Orçun Selçuk on populist polarisation in Turkey and Latin America

    Orçun Selçuk on "The Authoritarian Divide: Populism, Propaganda, and Polarization" (University of Notre Dame Press). The book compares Turkey under Erdoğan, Venezuela under Chávez and Ecuador under Correa, showing that Turkey's experience can be more usefully compared with Latin American examples than cases of right-wing populism in Europe or Islamism in the Middle East.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    22 October 2024, 1:00 am
  • 34 minutes 52 seconds
    Ezgi BaÅŸaran on the new spirit of Islamism

    Ezgi BaÅŸaran on "The New Spirit of Islamism: Interactions Between the AKP, Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood" (IB Tauris). The book looks at the aspirations of Islamist actors in Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia from 2011 to 2013, seeking to understand how they viewed each other and whether they prioritised pragmatism or religious ideology.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    8 October 2024, 2:00 am
  • 37 minutes 35 seconds
    Samim Akgönül on 100 years of Turkish-Greek relations

    Samim Akgönül, director of the Department of Turkish Studies at the University of Strasbourg, on "One Hundred Years of Greek-Turkish Relations: The Human Dimension of an Ongoing Conflict" (Edinburgh University Press)

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    24 September 2024, 1:00 am
  • 38 minutes 39 seconds
    Çağdaş Üngör on Turkey's geopolitical dilemmas in the Asia-Pacific century

    Çağdaş Üngör discusses her recent articles "A Bridge No More? Turkiye’s Geopolitical Significance in the 21st Century" in the journal Survival and "A 'Bridge' Pushed to the Periphery? Turkey's Geopolitical Significance in the Asia-Pacific Century" in Turkish Studies.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    10 September 2024, 2:00 am
  • 41 minutes 35 seconds
    Karabekir Akkoyunlu on religion and democracy in Turkey and Iran

    Karabekir Akkoyunlu, Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at SOAS, on "Guardianship and Democracy in Iran and Turkey: Tutelary Consolidation, Popular Contestation" (Edinburgh University Press).

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    27 August 2024, 2:00 am
  • 46 minutes 26 seconds
    Eugene Rogan on communal violence and the end of the old Ottoman world

    Eugene Rogan on "The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Destruction of the Old Ottoman World" (Allen Lane). The book examines how in July 1860 Damascus exploded in communal violence when a mostly Muslim crowd tried to exterminate the Christian community, after hundreds of years of relative peace and coexistence.

    Become a member on Patreon or Substack 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.

    13 August 2024, 3:00 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App
© MoonFM 2025. All rights reserved.