Selim Koru
@selimkoru.bsky.social
Scholar of political ideas, Nietzsche, Turkey.
Affiliations:
@NottsPolitics, @TEPAV
Tweets in English & Turkish.
Words: @nytimes, @WarOnTheRocks, etc.
Substack: https://kulturkampftr.substack.com/
Affiliations:
@NottsPolitics, @TEPAV
Tweets in English & Turkish.
Words: @nytimes, @WarOnTheRocks, etc.
Substack: https://kulturkampftr.substack.com/
Fascinating piece on broader Russian and Turkish political identity by @samharshbarger.bsky.social.
Russian or “of Russia?” Turkish or “of Turkey?”
Turkish nationalism has become more like its Russian counterpart
kulturkampftr.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Fascinating piece on broader Russian and Turkish political identity by @samharshbarger.bsky.social.
@nicholasdanfort.bsky.social's piece on how Trump is redistributing prestige.
Trump's Prestige Economy
He likes the tough ones
kulturkampftr.substack.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:47 PM
@nicholasdanfort.bsky.social's piece on how Trump is redistributing prestige.
I wrote up some Erdoğan speech analysis. Always fun.
Erdoğan feels vindicated by Mark Carney's speech
Should he?
kulturkampftr.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 8:57 PM
I wrote up some Erdoğan speech analysis. Always fun.
Reposted by Selim Koru
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.
Trump says Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, taught him diplomacy. Rubio abetted the deaths of hundreds of thousands via end of USAID, the return of Russia to the world stage, the humiliation of Zelensky & Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, & the jailing of students for speech.
January 21, 2026 at 3:11 PM
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.
Reposted by Selim Koru
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?
Opinion | In Minneapolis, I Glimpsed a Civil War
www.nytimes.com
January 19, 2026 at 6:41 PM
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?
Reposted by Selim Koru
My latest is on the moral status of Islam in Iran & Turkey
Iran and Turkey Are Losing Their Faith - For the Same Reason
How political Islam corrodes religious authority
kulturkampftr.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:42 AM
My latest is on the moral status of Islam in Iran & Turkey
Reposted by Selim Koru
Great read; reminded me of this data from Iran in the early 2000s
January 16, 2026 at 12:02 PM
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
Iran and Turkey Are Losing Their Faith - For the Same Reason
How political Islam corrodes religious authority
kulturkampftr.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:42 AM
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.
So, if I'm reading this right:
4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer,
and
6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow.
(HT @benjaminkabak.com)
4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer,
and
6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow.
(HT @benjaminkabak.com)
Federal prosecutors quit in protest over lack of investigation into ICE shooting
Six lawyers from US attorney’s office in Minnesota quit along with four leaders of DoJ’s civil rights division
www.theguardian.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:06 PM
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
On Vulgar Realism
In America and Turkey
kulturkampftr.substack.com
January 11, 2026 at 12:15 PM
America's vulgar realism is contagious
Reposted by Selim Koru
Looking for an escape from the news? This book/podcast does the trick
👇👇
👇👇
First episode of 2026 ✨✨
Burcu Karahan (@burcukarahan.bsky.social) on translating "One Thousand and One Kisses" (Translation Attached)
The book is a remarkable collection of erotic, humorous short stories published anonymously in Istanbul in 1923-24.
👇👇
turkeybooktalk.com/2026/01/06/b...
Burcu Karahan (@burcukarahan.bsky.social) on translating "One Thousand and One Kisses" (Translation Attached)
The book is a remarkable collection of erotic, humorous short stories published anonymously in Istanbul in 1923-24.
👇👇
turkeybooktalk.com/2026/01/06/b...
Burcu Karahan on sexual freedom and women in late Ottoman fiction
Turkey Book Talk #261 – Burcu Karahan of Stanford University on her translation of “One Thousand and One Kisses: The Most Joyous and Flirtatious Stories” (Translation Attached). The collectio…
turkeybooktalk.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:13 PM
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:
LIVE SOON: CORRECTION: The Venezuela-Turkey connection
Starting Jan 6 at 10:00 AM EST
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 2:30 PM
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:
LIVE SOON: CORRECTION: The Venezuela-Turkey connection
Starting Jan 6 at 10:00 AM EST
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:13 PM
@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:
Reposted by Selim Koru
This is how I see it
foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/24/t...
foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/24/t...
Trump’s Illiberal Interventionism
The president swore off building nations, not destroying them.
foreignpolicy.com
January 3, 2026 at 1:55 PM
This is how I see it
foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/24/t...
foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/24/t...
Reposted by Selim Koru
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.
December 25, 2025 at 8:14 AM
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.
Reposted by Selim Koru
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.
December 25, 2025 at 3:33 AM
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.
Reposted by Selim Koru
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.
December 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
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.
Reposted by Selim Koru
“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...
Turkey's ornate Ottoman-era 'bird palaces'
Many of Istanbul's visitors are unaware that the city is home to half-a-millennium-old stone-carved bird houses that reflect the Ottomans' reverence for the animals.
www.bbc.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:12 AM
“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...
Reposted by Selim Koru
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"
Icymi, because I did: MI6 chief warns that tech giants are closer to running the world than governments.
MI6 chief: Tech giants are closer to running the world than politicians
In first public speech on threats to UK, top spy warns of dangerous power shift amid surge in disinformation
inews.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
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"
Reposted by Selim Koru
« 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.
From @selimkoru.bsky.social's latest substack update.
Remembering the Shah of Iran; the fall of an Islamist princeling; other things
notebook 41
kulturkampftr.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:04 AM
« 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.
From @selimkoru.bsky.social's latest substack update.
Reposted by Selim Koru
This is a really interesting and insightful reflection on Muslim identity and religious experience; highly recommend:
December 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This is a really interesting and insightful reflection on Muslim identity and religious experience; highly recommend:
I wrote about the Muslims
On Cultural Muslims
How Muslim identity in the West is becoming more like Judaism
kulturkampftr.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I wrote about the Muslims
this deserves more words!
The problem IMO is 3) -- they need to recognize they'll never win on ground tilted against them, but they can shift the battlefield itself
December 7, 2025 at 9:24 PM
this deserves more words!
Reposted by Selim Koru
I do get a kick out of edited volumes on settler colonialism that make no mention of either China or Russia...
December 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I do get a kick out of edited volumes on settler colonialism that make no mention of either China or Russia...