Selim Koru, "New Turkey and the Far Right: How Reactionary Nationalism Remade a Country" (I. B. Tauris, 2025)

About this episode

Selim Koru discusses how reactionary nationalism has reshaped Turkey's political landscape and foreign relations.

Turkey is among a league of revisionist powers who are challenging the world order. Erdogan and his Islamist movement have aimed to create the “New Turkey”, preparing for a future that is less dependent on Western treaty allies and with an alliance structure of its own. In New Turkey and the Far Right: How Reactionary Nationalism Remade a Country (I. B. Tauris, 2025), Selim Koru discusses the political ideas driving Turkey's regime change and foreign policy. It de-exceptionalizes Turkish politics, arguing that the “New Turkey” is part of a global trend of far-right nationalist movements like that of Donald Trump in the United States or Narendra Modi in India. In particular, the book reveals how far-right nationalist strands in Turkey have been nurtured by an existential resentment of the West, similar to those we are seeing in Russia. In tracing this resentment and its historical roots, the book invites policymakers and experts to better understand the new relationships Turkey is building with fellow revisionists including China and Russia, as well as Turkey's involvement in the wars in Syria and Ukraine and Erdogan's grand strategy for expansion. The book is based on interviews…

People in this episode

Guest: Selim Koru

Topics covered

• Turkish politics
• far-right nationalism
• Erdogan
• foreign policy
• revisionist powers
• global trends

Keywords

• New Turkey
• reactionary nationalism
• Erdogan
• far-right
• global trends
• foreign policy
• Turkey
• revisionist powers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: I. B. Tauris

Places: Turkey, United States, India, Russia, Syria, Ukraine

More episodes of New Books in Turkish Studies

• Alice von Bieberstein, "Temptations in Ruin: Sovereign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) · May 17, 2026 · 36 min
• Ayşehan Jülide Etem, "Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations" (Columbia UP, 2026) · May 16, 2026 · 56 min
• Anthony Kaldellis, "1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople" (Oxford UP, 2026) · May 1, 2026 · 1h 14m
• David Blumenthal and James A. Morone, "Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science" (Yale UP, 2026) · April 21, 2026 · 1h 7m
• James Bultema, "Free Enough to Grow: The Turkish Protestant Movement, 1961-2016" (Springer, 2026) · April 21, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Prolepsis · March 23, 2026 · 17 min