Fascism, Exile, and Redefining Home in the 21st Century, with Ece Temelkuran

Intelligence Squared

News Commentary, Arts, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it mean to belong when the very idea of home is under threat? In this episode we’re joined by award-winning author and political thinker Ece Temelkuran. Forced into exile for her critical views of President Erdoğan, Temelkuran has long signalled the alarm that fascism threatens not only her home country Türkiye, but the whole democratic world. Her first book in English, How to Lose a Country, received international praise. Her second, Together, offers ‘a way out from the political and moral insanity’ that is ushered by the global rise of fascism. Now Temelkuran joins host Mythili Rao to discuss her new book, Nation of Strangers, a powerful and personal reappraisal of the concept of exile, migration and rebuilding home in the 21st century. Increasingly, oppression seems to be spreading, institutions crumbling, and certainties dissolving. Across the world, the number of refugees and exiles, the dispossessed and displaced, the politically homeless and economically excluded is growing. In response, Nation of Strangers takes the form of intimate, urgent letters written from one stranger to another, exploring alienation, resistance, solidarity and hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:54.5	Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Serenti.
1:01.1	What does it mean to belong when home itself feels fragile, contested, all out of reach?
1:05.8	On today's episode, award-winning author and political thinker, Edjay Temel Kuren,
1:13.0	joins us to discuss her new book, Nation of Strangers, a deeply personal and urgent exploration of exile, migration,
1:19.6	and the search for belonging in an age of rising authoritarianism. In conversation with Mithely Rao,
1:24.9	Temal-Kurin reflects on fleeing her native Turkey, the global spread of fascism and how solidarity,
1:28.7	resistance and hope can be rebuilt among those who feel politically and emotionally displaced. Let's join our host, Mitha Lee Rao, now with more.
1:35.1	Welcome to Intelligence Squared. I'm Mithelie Rau. Our guest today is Echéthamalkuran.
1:40.7	Echette Tamalcoran is an award-winning Turkish writer and political thinker whose work has been published worldwide.
1:46.7	Her novels, Women Who Blow Knots and The Time of Mute Swans, have been published in several languages and adapted to the stage.
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