New interview! @selimkoru.bsky.social discusses Erdoğan's New Turkey, the far-right influences and goals of him and his party in the domestic and foreign policy domains, and #illiberalism. @ieres-gwu.bsky.social

This week in the newsletter, I speak to @selimkoru.bsky.social to make sense of Turkey's foreign policy. It's complicated! And interesting open.substack.com/pub/thehundr...

Can't wrap my head around that one

Nobody cares about just being mayor.

Fun podcast this week: @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social and I talked to @hannahluci.bsky.social about Istanbul! We talked about waterfront privatization, cafes, and how the city has changed in the last two decades.

Had a really fun time talking about Istanbul (in Istanbul) with @hannahluci.bsky.social and @selimkoru.bsky.social kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/talking-is...

This is good

The post everyone's been waiting for: why did I name my blog Kültürkampf?

how dare you @humeyrapamuk.bsky.social

Visiting in 2023, I was shocked that expensive restaurants in Beirut & the Shouf were still full. The friend who took me to one figured the wealth was all remittances & currency speculation. To him, the rich will coast until the bottom finally drops out for them too, when those left will also leave.

🎙️ Author @selimkoru.bsky.social joins @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social to discuss his book 'New Turkey and the Far Right' — a deep dive into #nationalism, #authoritarianism, and political transformation in Erdoğan’s #Turkey. 🔗 Listen here: newbooksnetwork.com/new-turkey-a... #Turkiye #Politics #Erdogan

"New Turkey and the Far Right: How Reactionary Nationalism Remade a Country" with @selimkoru.bsky.social and @reubensilverman.bsky.social. [2/5]

Benny Gantz conveniently confirming what critics of Israel have long argued - the problem isn't just Netanyahu www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...

I talked about my book on far-right Turkish politics with @reubensilverman.bsky.social! newbooksnetwork.com/new-turkey-a...

That tracks for me. I thought it was either (a) wishful thinking of the Eurasianist sort or (b) a clumsy attempt to show that Turkey has "options" in advance of the Erdoğan/Trump meeting. Possibly both.

Some wise advice on your academia.edu account. It's probably time to delete it.

Interesting citation of "Ottoman constitutionalism" fitting into Turkey's modern republican tradition. But I do wonder if behind it lies some legacy of what Anthony Kaldellis called "The Byzantine republic".

My latest from @foreignpolicy.com "Just recently, Turkey stood out for its repeated assaults on international norms. Now, those norms have been shattered by a host of bigger and more aggressive actors, and Turkey looks almost calm in comparison. foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/17/t...

Last month I rode my motorbike in the depths of (Western) Turkey and I half-joked that I crossed villages where people haven't heard of the Republic yet. As on cue @selimkoru.bsky.social analyzes the politics of that visceral feeling in the current context kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/we-are-des...

If regicide is the foundation of republicanism, Turkey's republic should be solid.

Pets Tell Tales: Ancient Rome might have a little something to say about tyrants, fascists and empire. Art/Lettering by @jordancollver.bsky.social Words by Calcagus, enemy of Rome

Very excited to see my favourite Substack is going full time. If you're interested in Euro politics then you should be spending more time trying to understand Turkey. I've already learned lots from @selimkoru.bsky.social and you can too if you subscribe below: open.substack.com/pub/kulturka...

“This is not just how authoritarianism happens. This is authoritarianism happening.” What Trump is doing is not normal and Democrats need to start acting accordingly. One of @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social’s best columns to date.

Agree with this.

The way I see it, it's a matter of time until the regime takes over the CHP. The task for the resistance is going to be to make the power dynamic obvious to the public. This isn't easy to do.

Corollary is sometimes he’s gonna just say stuff, and it’s a good idea not to think too hard about why he’s saying it, because it’s probably just whatever passed through his mind at the moment

My friend Mehmet Ratip wrote about the famous historicist theologian Mustafa Öztürk, and how he's calling on everyone to burn his books. People like this make me more optimistic about Turkey's future.

Wait, we in Turkey are part of an Axis of countries conquering the United States, and we get which part exactly? Florida! This is ridiculous. I want pieces of the Midwest at the very least.

Just this. It's not about the morality or fairness of it. It just doesn't work - unless the world changes into something completely different, like a neo-feudal economy.

This is excellent.

I wrote something new about the New Turkey, in response to @selimkoru.bsky.social’s book, and whether to think of it as far right or something else nateschenkkan.substack.com/p/is-the-new...

Europa y EEUU miran hacia otro lado mientras Erdogan da un paso más hacia una Turquía autocrática. Hoy en @elespanol.com con entrevistas a @yusufcan.bsky.social and @selimkoru.bsky.social www.elespanol.com/mundo/europa...

Beautiful series of vignettes from Antep in one of @selimkoru.bsky.social's best essays. I'd sure love to hear more about fatherhood and family relations in Turkey (I used an airport changeroom with my baby in Istanbul recently and a woman looked at me like "What in God's name are you doing here?")

I spent three weeks walking around central Gaziantep, in southern Turkey. Here's my writeup:

"It’s deeply embarrassing to the opposition that the man it puts its hopes in during the '23 election is now so brazenly betraying it now." @selimkoru.bsky.social on Turkey's imploding opposition kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/the-hostil...

Şırnak's fertility decline may be the most dramatic in demographic history x.com/JesusFerna70... via @selimkoru.bsky.social's newsletter Kültürkampf

Köylerde çoğunlukla sadece ihtiyarlar var. Çocuk sesini bayramdan bayrama duyuyoruz. Okul binası boş duruyor. Neredeyse her hafta bir sela okunuyor. Maliyetler artıyor, yağışlar ve su azalıyor. Aşırı tarım zehiri kullanımı yüzünden çiftçiler hastalıklarla boğuşuyor. Ciddi ilgi gerektiren bir konu.

Great post by @selimkoru.bsky.social on the Turkish left’s lexicon of resistance kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/the-langua...

📰Sunday extras! "The PKK's dissolves itself" with @amberinzaman.bsky.social, @selimkoru.bsky.social and @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social. [1/5]

The PKK disbands: Implications for Turkey Watch our live webcast with @selimkoru.bsky.social, writer of Kültürkampf and author of the book 'New Turkey and the Far Right', and @diegocupolo.bsky.social, editor-in-chief of Turkey recap. www.turkeyrecap.com/p/the-pkk-di...

join us in 10m!

Come for the comics, stay for the podcasts.

New Kulturkampf out! kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/watching-a...

Thank you Louis! One vote for no 4 it is. (BTW, I’m right now listening to @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social & @selimkoru.bsky.social’s Kulturkampf discussion of Turkey-Israel relations with Gabi Mitchell as I’m painting. Very interesting, if you haven’t heard it.)

What a privilege! Thoroughly enjoyed talking to @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social and @selimkoru.bsky.social about Israel, Turkey, and Syria

Missed our event earlier this week on Turkey's New Protest Movement with @selimkoru.bsky.social, @ctekayliu.bsky.social, @gonultol.bsky.social and @jdryan08.bsky.social ? You can watch it on YouTube now! Watch, share, subscribe! buff.ly/vJv29qL

This is quite fun. “America would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing.” • 80% of Americans agree • 20% disagree “I would be better off if I worked in a factory.” • 25% of Americans agree • 73% disagree • 2% currently work in a factory t.co/ycnHVZ1gT1

EVENT: Join MERIP and @IMES-gw.bsky.social on April 16 at 12PM EST to discuss Turkey's new protest movement featuring @selimkoru.bsky.social, Fulya Pınar, @gonultol.bsky.social and @jdryan08.bsky.social.

I hate this phrase. It's passed on mindlessly from a different time.

There's been a huge growth of Turkish Bluesky. Welcome everyone! You can also follow my work through my substack below. I don't link to it on Twitter/X because the algorithm there suppresses it: kulturkampftr.substack.com