Journalist and author Ece Temelkuran left her home country of Turkey in 2016 out of fear of being arrested for criticizing the Erdoğan regime – a decision that left her “unhomed” not just physically, but morally, politically, and emotionally.
Now, Temelkuran grapples with what it means to be unhomed in her new book, Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century.
“When you feel like you don’t recognize your country anymore, that is the beginning of [being] unhomed,” Temelkuran tells Mehdi, adding that Minneapolis “is a good precursor of what would happen if these forces are not stopped.”
Temelkuran also explains why immigrants may be uniquely positioned to play a crucial role in pushing back against the rise of fascism under the Trump administration.
“We are the ones who lost their homes and who rebuilt their homes from scratch in another country,” she says. “We know how to survive with dignity and we know what home means, and I think we know how this emotional machine of fascism works.”
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Temelkuran’s book, Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century, is available now in the UK, and will be released across Europe and North America this spring. Click here to pre-order your copy.
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