I did the flimsy 3-week military service, but think that it's a good thing overall. Every young person should have do at least a year of civil or military service.

Had a great discussion with @selimkoru.bsky.social and Reuben Silverman about Reuben's new book: kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/the-rise-a...

The decision in South Korea today would not be possible without those people helping their MPs to get to the parliament and stop Yoon from declaring martial law. Their fight mustn't be forgotten.

There's a common assumption in Western political thought: republicanism grew out of centuries of nobles and parliaments challenging kings. And that this tradition is unique to the West — that in the Islamic world, rulers were obeyed with religious submission, and self-government was a foreign import

How far we've come: Ukrainians are going to train German soldiers in Germany because they know more about fighting Russians than anyone else on earth

Turkish state TV just aired a scene where an Ottoman prince slaughters Jewish merchants on screen while the Khaybar chant plays in the background. This is new territory — even for TRT. I wrote about what it means, and why almost nobody in Turkey noticed or cared.

The "Ottoman constitutionalism" idea is fascinating, and echoes Kaldellis' idea of the Medieval Roman Empire being still a non-dynastic state. Literally the same location (and people).

Turkish state TV just aired a scene where an Ottoman prince slaughters Jewish merchants on screen while the Khaybar chant plays in the background. This is new territory — even for TRT. I wrote about what it means, and why almost nobody in Turkey noticed or cared.

V interesting thread

Janissary asphyxiating the Little Prince, by the inimitable Selçuk Erdem

There's a common assumption in Western political thought: republicanism grew out of centuries of nobles and parliaments challenging kings. And that this tradition is unique to the West — that in the Islamic world, rulers were obeyed with religious submission, and self-government was a foreign import

Oh my god I can use python now to do cool stuff with my computer.

yes

My old stomping grounds. The repression of students and professors had only just started getting serious when I was there. Then a few years back, in Istanbul for the first time in 8 years, and the campus was completely locked down. A tragedy what Erdoğan is doing to that student body and culture.

Nothing destroys religion better than a state church, and nothing protects it better than secular government. Counterintuitive but true

interesting and worthwhile thread:

“When faith becomes a tool of state power, it loses its legitimacy as a source of public morality.”

When I lived in America about 10 or so years ago, I had a neighbor just relocated from Iran move in, and the first thing he tells me is "I'm from Iran, but I'm an atheist."

#Turkey not USA

New on Kültürkampf: My assistant Ata Armağan, a 4th-year sociology student at Boğaziçi, wrote up what he saw on the first day of spring term — riot police, water cannons, tear gas, and students who refused to back down.

This is what university capture looks like

From my two-apart series on religiosity: Iran and Turkey are both experiencing rapid secularization. The common thread? Political Islam corrodes the very religious authority it claims to embody. When faith becomes a tool of state power, it loses its legitimacy as a source of public morality.

From my two-apart series on religiosity: Iran and Turkey are both experiencing rapid secularization. The common thread? Political Islam corrodes the very religious authority it claims to embody. When faith becomes a tool of state power, it loses its legitimacy as a source of public morality.

This was a really good think tank idea 12 years ago, and is now a thing that gets trotted out as a talking point when people need to display “constructive” ideas

Let's all face the elephant in the room. Thirty years after its launch, and without the full EU membership prospect, Customs Union is a lousy deal. And no update can fix it.

The whole online discussion of Turkey-EU Customs Union negotiations is phony. I feel like it's an urgent matter for Turkey, but it's not a big deal for the EU. Makes me think that Turkey is making online fuss to pressure the EU, which seems weak and ineffectual.

Fascinating piece on broader Russian and Turkish political identity by @samharshbarger.bsky.social.

@nicholasdanfort.bsky.social's piece on how Trump is redistributing prestige.

I wrote up some Erdoğan speech analysis. Always fun.

The thing that is distinctive about Rubio is that he likely doesn't believe any of this shit serves U.S. national interests. It is all just sacrifice at the alter of ambition to one day be President.

fantastic piece from my colleague @polgreen.bsky.social that gets at something i have been thinking about. what, exactly, is the administration's strategic goal in minnesota? what does "victory" look like for trump and miller?

My latest is on the moral status of Islam in Iran & Turkey

Great read; reminded me of this data from Iran in the early 2000s

My latest is on the moral status of Islam in Iran & Turkey

Trump is moving faster than many other far-right leaders. I'm not sure that's smart on his part, but maybe it can't be helped. Maybe it's just the way it goes.

America's vulgar realism is contagious

Looking for an escape from the news? This book/podcast does the trick 👇👇

We'll be online in 30min

@nicholasdanfort.bsky.social and I are going to do a substack live tomorrow in which we're going to talk about Venezuela, Turkey, and probably how we're very annoyed by most of what's been said on the internet:

This is how I see it foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/24/t...

This is an interesting read on "Cultural Muslims". My caveat would be that it regards modern experiences of religion in political sphere too much as religion as practised in general & throughout time. Because, frankly, most people have always been "cultural Muslims". Orthopraxy is rarely the norm.

Re: cultural Muslims, I am thinking of similarities to their Jewish counterparts — people who identify as belonging to a diasporic culture, but with varying levels of religious belief and practice. This is now more common in Muslim communities in the west.

For the past twenty years, each successive generation of students in my classroom has arrived less knowledgeable about the world, less able to think through complex ideas, and less willing to engage seriously with views that challenge their assumptions.

“In Istanbul, you often find birdhouses on the qibla walls of mosques so the sound of birds becomes associated with the sound of prayer, with both human voices and birds' voices fluttering up to the sky”. @jenhattam.bsky.social on Istanbul’s architectural birdhouses. www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

I've told this story before, but a year ago I was at a closed-door meeting with various governments reps at a meaningful level, and when social media regulation came up, one of the non-US government reps basically said: "but we're powerless"

« He also started frequenting a night club called Kütüphane (meaning “Library,” so patrons would presumably saying “I’m going to the library.” This makes it the most Islamist name for a night club ever.) » LOL From @selimkoru.bsky.social's latest substack update.

This is a really interesting and insightful reflection on Muslim identity and religious experience; highly recommend:

I wrote about the Muslims

this deserves more words!