Note from LeftEast editors: This talk was recorded at the workshop on After US Hegemony: Geopolitical Economy in the 21st Century, held at the Karl Polányi Center for Global Social Analysis at Corvinus University, Budapest, on February 11, 2020.

This interview is on the recent waves of deportations, detentions and relocations of migrants and refugees in Turkey, the majority of whom are Syrians. This wave is accompanied by rising xenophobia, systematic harassment of and discrimation against the Syrian population in Turkey, who are blamed for the increasingly complex political and economic problems of the country. We discussed the precarious legal category of “the temporary protection status,” which in part allowed for the recent shift in Turkey’s official refugee/migrant policy to an explicitly national security-oriented one, as well as the repercus ..

March 20th 2019, marks the spring equinox, and therefore, the ancient festivity of “Nowruz”, celebrated by millions of people around the world as the beginning of new year. Nowruz celebrations, which date back to more than 3000 years ago, are observed by people of many different ethnic and racial groups, from the Uyghur community in China, to different majority and minority communities in Iran, to various communities in the Balkans. This non-religious festivity is a celebration of renewal of the earth with its ceremonies mostly centered around nature and community. Marking the first day of the first m ..