Aslı Iğsız and Jonathan Conlin discuss how a concept of civilisation has been represented and exploited, from the age of Ismet and Toynbee to that of Erdoğan, Samuel Huntington and Krishan Kumar.

Isaac Hand talks to Jonathan Conlin about his current research into inter-war Turkish urbanism, particularly the contested role of the muhtar.

Mari Firkatian tells Ozan Ozavci how she discovered the lost archives of the Stancioff family, uncovering the secrets of Nadejda Stancioff, the only woman diplomat at Lausanne.

Smyrna/İzmir was in ruins in September 1922. Philip Mansel explains to Ozan Ozavci how that unique entrepot changed from a Greek-cosmopolitan to a Turkish port town, and the devastating consequences of the Great Fire.

Howard Eissenstat shares with Ozan Ozavci his concerns around the language of post-post-Kemalism, before a lively discussion on Turgut Özal, the 1990s, and whether this might be Recep Tayyib Erdoğan's last year in power.

Martin van Bruinessen explains to Ozan Ozavci how Kurdish political movements in Turkey took hold from the 1960s onward, evolving from far-leftist activism and violence to demands for inclusive democracy.

Martin van Bruinessen explains to Ozan Ozavci how travels around the Middle East in the 1970s led him to devote his career to tracing the hopes and disappointments faced by the Kurds.

Julia Secklehner talks to Jamie Walters about her plans to bring the irrepressible American reporter Clare Sheridan back to life, and back to the streets of Lausanne.

Jonathan Conlin talks agency, emplotment and subjectivity with Laura Almagor and Haakon Ikonomou, editors of a new volume addressing global biography.

In the second half of their conversation Djene Rhys Bajalan and Ozan Ozavci consider the Kurds' relationship with Russia and Britain, the Kurdish perception of Lausanne, and the 1925 Sheikh Said rebellion.