Intelligence Squared How To Lose Your Country, with Ece Temelkuran (Part One)
Nov 14, 2025
Ece Temelkuran, an award-winning Turkish writer and political thinker exiled for her critiques of President Erdoğan, delves into the subtle onset of authoritarianism. She reveals how movements manufacture victimhood to gain loyalty and discusses the uncomfortable truth of journalists as early targets in oppressive regimes. Temelkuran reflects on the value of exile and crystallizes the need for a moral transformation in politics. With a call for renewed solidarity, she examines how crises expose the stark realities of good and evil, urging a return to democracy rooted in dignity.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Faith Over Fragile Hope
- Ece Temelkuran argues hope is too fragile and we need to rebuild faith in each other and in politics.
- She frames faith as a practical foundation for collective action, not naive optimism.
Self-Exile And A New Language
- Ece Temelkuran describes self-exiling from Turkey in 2016 to preserve her safety and capacity to write.
- She moved to Zagreb and switched to writing in English, producing How To Lose A Country.
Why Dissidents Are First Targets
- Temelkuran says journalists and dissidents are targeted first because they are both powerful and easy scapegoats.
- She warns authoritarian movements manufacture hatred of media to neutralize opposition early.
