Turkey: Adnan Menderes, populism, and history

Do we have a responsibility to inform ourselves about the state of the world? Is the experience of some people valued more highly than that of others? Matthew Sweet investigates the ethics of knowledge in Radio 4's round table discussion programme. With: Quassim Cassam, philosoph ...  Show more

What does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as well as of material things. From the early modern world, where trade was entangled with colonial expan ...  Show more

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear from activist and actor Memet Ali Alabora on how his social media post contributed to the civil unrest following the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013.Our guest, Selin ...  Show more

100 years ago, Turkish defeat in World War One signalled the end of the once great Ottoman Empire. What emerged was a European orientated secular republic led by a man who used social engineering to shape Turkey in his own image – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Bridget Kendall examines t ...  Show more

President Erdogan’s time in power has been a fascinating period for Turkey - at once nodding to the liberal West, while simultaneously winking at the more Conservative East. It’s his country in a nutshell, and his policies in economics, social welfare, secularisation and his rela ...  Show more

Spyros Sofos on “Turkish Politics and ‘The People’: Mass Mobilisation and Populism” (Edinburgh University Press). The book delves into the ambiguities behind the term “the people” from the late Ottoman era to today, and how religious, secularist, left ...