Türkiye: Cycling Through a Country’s First Century

“A deeply thoughtful, gripping and scrupulous book,” writes Caroline Eden — and Türkiye more than earns that praise. By Julian Emre Sayarer, winner of the Stanford Dolman Award for Travel Writing, this is a powerful, clear‑eyed journey across a country on the brink of its centenary and pivotal elections. (As always, readers should confirm political details with trusted sources.)

Setting out by bicycle from the Aegean coast to the Armenian border, Sayarer travels through a Türkiye rarely seen from afar. Along the roadside he meets farmers, factory workers, Syrian refugees, and Russians avoiding conscription, each encounter adding another thread to the vast cultural tapestry where Asia, Africa and Europe converge.

What emerges is both a love letter to Türkiye and its neighbours, and a nuanced portrait of a nation navigating identity, history and political power. Sayarer’s route also shadows a major fault line — just months before one of the region’s most devastating modern earthquakes — adding a haunting layer of prescience to the journey.

True to his trademark style, Sayarer brings big geopolitical questions back to the human level, using the intimacy of bicycle travel to illuminate the everyday realities behind headlines and assumptions. The result is a book that challenges Western preconceptions, offering what the Guardian calls “a persuasive corrective to western views of a place he loves.”

At the end of the ride, we’re left with a deeper understanding not only of Türkiye, but of the universal forces that shape political life — there and closer to home.

"A persuasive corrective to western views of a place he loves" Guardian