Ayhan Kaya, Professor of Politics and Jean Monnet Chair at the Department of International Relations at Istanbul Bilgi University, on “Turkish Origin Migrants and Their Descendants: Hyphenated Identities in Transnational Space” (Palgrave Macmillan).

Particularly looking at migration from Turkey to Europe since the 1960s, Kaya argues that home and host countries have increasingly defined migrants within rigid, religiously-defined boundaries, with ambivalent results.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 100 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Mike Giglio, staff writer at The Atlantic, on "Shatter the Nations: ISIS and the War for the Caliphate" (Public Affairs). The book describes Giglio's years reporting on the rise and fall of ISIS from Turkey, Syria and Iraq, including time embedded on the front line with Iraqi special forces and the Syrian Kurdish YPG.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Bilge Yabancı, Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Graz's Centre of Southeast European Studies, on her paper “Work for the Nation, Obey the State, Praise the Ummah: Turkey’s Government-oriented Youth Organizations in Cultivating a New Nation”, which appeared in the journal Ethnopolitics.

Based on original fieldwork conducted over almost two years, the article explores the often umbilical relationship between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and over a dozen youth organisations that share its goal of shepherding Turkey down a religious, nationalist, conservative course.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Caner Yelbaşı, researcher in history at Mardin Artuklu University, on “The Circassians in Turkey: War, Violence and Nationalism from the Ottomans to Atatürk” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The book describes the course of Circassians in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey after they were driven from their north Caucasus homeland by the Russian Empire in the 19th century.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Jonathan Rugman, foreign affairs correspondent at Channel 4 News, on “The Killing in the Consulate: Investigating the Life and Death of Jamal Khashoggi” (Simon & Schuster).

The book examines the run-up and aftermath of the gruesome killing of Saudi journalist Khashoggi by a 15-man hit squad in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul Consulate on 2 October 2018. It also delves into Khashoggi's complicated professional and personal life, as well as the bitter diplomatic rivalry between Ankara and Riyadh that the killing shone a light on.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Zeynep Şentek on the environment, public health and politics in Dilovası, a heavily polluted industrial district near Istanbul. Şentek is one of the reporters of a recent Black Sea.EU article examining the grim health consequences of life in what a 2007 parliamentary commission called a "public health disaster zone". The article paints an almost hellish picture of life for the nearly 50,000 people in Dilovası, where dangerous chemicals are continuously belched into the air, cancer rates are reportedly well above average, and locals suffer from a range of severe respiratory conditions.

Here's a link to the detailed report on life in Dilovası: https://theblacksea.eu/stories/the-toxic-valley-project/the-toxic-valley/

And a shorter report on an asbestos dump in Dilovası: https://theblacksea.eu/stories/the-toxic-valley-project/asbestos-hill/

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history titles published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Soner Çağaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, on how Turkey's military incursion into northeast Syria fits into President Erdoğan's broader policies in the Middle East. Çağaptay is the author of three books since 2014 on Turkey's domestic and foreign policy, most recently “Erdogan's Empire: Turkey and the Politics of the Middle East” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). 

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the entire archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history titles published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Holly Shissler, associate professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish History at the University of Chicago, on the life and work of Ahmet Mithat Efendi (1844-1912).

Ahmet Mithat is among the most important men of letters in the late Ottoman era. The publisher of the newspaper "Tercuman-i Hakikat", he was also the author of many fictional works including “Felatun Bey and Rakim Efendi”, which appeared in an English translation from Syracuse University Press in 2016, and which Shissler wrote an afterword for.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history titles published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Deniz Çifçi on “The Kurds and the Politics of Turkey: Agency, Territory and Religion” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). Based on extensive on-the-ground research, the book describes the diversity of interest and opinion among Kurds in Turkey, addressing differences in language, tribal affiliation, religion and ideology. While news coverage and analysis often see the Kurds as a homogeneous group with unified demands, the book paints a more nuanced picture.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history titles published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. patreon.com/user?u=2998854

Nur Deriş on the extraordinary life of journalist Sabiha Sertel (1895-1968). Deriş is co-editor of “The Struggle for Modern Turkey: Justice, Activism and a Revolutionary Female Journalist” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury). The volume is the first ever appearance in English of Sertel's autobiography “Roman Gibi” (Like a Novel), a fascinating window into an era covering the war of independence and Turkey's entire single-party period until 1950.

Become a Turkey Book Talk member to support the podcast and get English and Turkish transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the archive, access to a 35% discount on over 400 Turkey/Ottoman history titles published by IB Tauris, and an archive of over 200 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854