Live interview on the US-Iran ceasefire
Why is Reza Pahlavi so popular with Metro Vancouver’s Iranian community? CBC Vancouver – The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn – 16 March 2026
Aired: March 16, 2026
Spyros Sofos is an assistant professor with SFU’s department of global humanities. He explains how Reza Pahlavi — the exiled son of Iran’s last Shah — became so popular among the Iranian diaspora in Vancouver and abroad.
“Foreign Fighters and Turkey’s Role in Syria,”
interview – Radio Slobodna Evropa – 21 December 2024
Interview on the detained Bosnians in Syria for participating in “terrorist activities” and the motives of foreign nationals for going to Syria to join ISIS,
Šta nas čeka, to niko ne zna’, državljanke BiH u zatvorenim sirijskim kampovima – Radio Slobodna Evropa – 16 December 2024
Interview on the detained Bosnians in Syria for participating in “terrorist activities” and the motives of foreign nationals for going to Syria to join ISIS,
Live appearance on Greek Radio Television foreign affairs magazine Σύνορα on Turkey’s role in the Balkans – 20 Dec 2024
Ο ρόλος της Τουρκίας στα Δυτικά_Βαλκανια, από την ήπια διπλωματία και τις οικονομικές #επενδύσεις μέχρι τα πιο πρόσφατη εντατικοποίηση των αμυντικών συνεργασιών εντατικοποιείται ακόμη περισσότερα τα τελευταία χρόνια, ιδιαίτερα μέσω της προσωπικής #διπλωματίας που ασκεί ο Ταγίπ #Ερντογάν με τους ηγέτες της περιοχής. Ο κ. Σπύρος Σοφός, αναπληρωτής καθηγητής στο Simon Fraser University στο Βανκούβερ του Καναδά, ανέλυσε στην εκπομπή μας τον τρόπο που η Τουρκία με ήπιο, αλλά αποτελεσματικό τρόπο διευρύνει την επιρροή της, επηρεάζοντας υπόγεια τις εξελίξεις στις χώρες της περιοχής και δυνητικά ακόμη και την πορεία τους προς την ευρωπαϊκή ολοκλήρωση.
Live interview on All Points West with Jason D’Souza, CBC Radio Victoria, Canada: “On the conflict in the Middle East,” Oct 2, 2024
Live interview on the US-Iran ceasefire
On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko, CBC Radio Vancouver, Canada: “On the conflict in
the Middle East,” Live interview (Oct 2, 2024)
Jun 20, 2024: Interview, WeCanFindaWay podcast on Turkey’s mediation record
In this episode, we discuss Turkey’s mediation in Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, and Somaliland, and the broader implications for its foreign policy and international standing. This episode also offers a comprehensive understanding of the human capital involved, and the ongoing challenges in achieving sustainable peace.
Turkey and Iran Realign Amid Gaza War | Spyros Sofos & Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak – Nov 8, 2023
As tensions escalate in the Middle East amid the Gaza conflict, a strategic realignment is in the making, with Turkey and Iran at the center of attention. The potential emergence of an ‘Axis of Revisionism’ has sparked intrigue and apprehension. Spyros Sofos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Humanities at Simon Fraser University and Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, Turkey Expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University joined us to discuss these issues.
Speakers Bernardo Mariani (independent consultant) and Spyros Sofos (London School of Economics) present findings from two recent PeaceRep reports on Russian and Turkish approaches to conflict management and the lessons these hold for Ukraine.
“Greece’s ‘other’ populism” with Spyros Sofos, Assistant Professor, Global Humanities, SFU – Jan 30, 2024
During the 1980s and 1990s “populism” had become the subject of intense debate in Greece, as the period that followed the collapse of the colonels’ dictatorship was replete with cultural and political processes that revolved around the notion of “the people”. The establishment and rapid ascendance of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), a new political party whose leader was considered charismatic, and whose political discourse posited “the people” as a community by definition progressive and anti-imperialist, the flourishing of media purporting to echo the popular sentiment, the rediscovery and celebration of hitherto repressed or neglected forms of “popular culture” were considered to be elements of a populist moment. Drawing on research on the period as well as on a recent attempt to sketch the contours of a theory of populism (Sofos 2022) this talk retraces and analyzes the cultural and political processes that contributed to the construction “of the people” that underpinned Greece’s ‘other’ populism.
Turkish Politics and ‘The People’: Mass Mobilisation and Populism – LSE Book Talk
This event was the launch of Spyros A. Sofos’ latest book ‘Turkish Politics and ‘The People’: Mass Mobilisation and Populism’ published by Edinburgh University Press.
Spyros A. Sofos is a political scientist based at the London School of Economics Middle East Centre and is founder and lead editor of openDemocracy’s #rethinkingpopulism. Bahar Baser is Associate Professor at Durham University’s School of Government and International Affairs. Dimitar Bechev is a Russia and East European Studies Affiliate at the School of Global Area Studies, University of Oxford.
PSA Turkish Politics Specialist Group hosted a virtual book launch event in which Dr Spyros Sofos presented his book Turkish Politics and ‘The People’ Mass Mobilisation and Populism, published by Edinburgh University Press. The book was discussed by Dr Evren Balta (Özyeğin University) and Dr Toygar Sinan Baykan (Kirklareli University). Sofos’s presentation was followed by feedback from discussants and a Q&A session. Spyros Sofos is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre.
Turkey Book Talk: Spyros Sofos on Turkey’s many nationalisms
Spyros Sofos on “Turkish Politics and ‘The People’: Mass Mobilisation and Populism” (Edinburgh University Press). The book delves into the ambiguities behind the term “the people” from the late Ottoman era to today, and how religious, secularist, left-wing and right-wing projects have used it for different ends.
Many on the Left want to return to a politics of class, not populism. They point to Left populist parties not reaching their goals. But Chantal Mouffe argues that as the COVID-19 pandemic has put protection from harm at the top of the agenda, a Left populist strategy is now more relevant than ever. Is this a chance to realign around a green democratic transformation?
Paolo Gerbaudo: Sociologist and political theorist, director of the Centre for Digital Culture at King’s College London and author of ‘The Mask and the Flag: Populism and Global Protest’ and ‘The Digital Party: Political Organisation and Online Democracy’. Chantal Mouffe: Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at the University of Westminster, London. Her most recent books are ‘Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically’, ‘Podemos. In the Name of the People’ and ‘For a Left Populism’. Spyros A. Sofos; Researcher and research coordinator at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University. Chair, Walid el Houri: Researcher, journalist and filmmaker. He is partnerships editor at openDemocracy and lead editor of its North Africa, West Asia project.
This panel attempts to explore the interconnectedness of Turkey’s domestic and foreign politics over the past two decades. How do geopolitical histories and imaginaries affect Turkey’s foreign policy? What are the links between everyday culture and Turkey’s foreign policy? To what extent have global and regional developments impacted and informed domestic politics? In what ways has foreign policy been used as a technique of governance?
Evren Balta is Professor of International Relations and chair of the International Relations Department at Özyeğin University. Lisel Hintz is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Spyros A. Sofos is a Researcher at the LSE Middle East Centre.
The US elections have exposed a deeply polarised society where far-right populism is alive and well.
How will progressives respond? Hear from:
Jeremy Gilbert Professor of Cultural and Political Theory at the University of East London and the current editor of the journal New Formations. Seyla Benhabib Professor Emerita of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University and Senior Research Scholar and Professor Adjunct of Law at Columbia University. Spyros A. Sofos Researcher and research coordinator at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University. Chair: Walid el Houri Researcher, journalist and filmmaker. He is partnerships editor at openDemocracy and lead editor of its North Africa, West Asia project.
June 21, 2018: These Turks would rather leave their country than continue living under Erdoğan Interview with The World from PRX Public Radio News Programme
17 April 2017: Live interview in Istanbul on the Constitutional Amendment Referendum for Greek Radio Television (EPT_ current affairs magazine Focus
Live interview in Istanbul on the prevailing climate in Turkey the day after the 2017 referendum for the current affairs show “ERT FOCUS”.
A documentary series about the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821 and the creation of the modern Greek state.
Duration: 8×45′, 1×70′ Produced by Anemon Productions for SKAI TV Greece.
December 2016: Mellanöstern idag – Svenskar som strider för IS -Podcast on Swedes who join the IS.
En podcast från Centrum för Mellanösternstudier, Lunds universitet. Producent och reporter är Karin Hållsten.
Programmet handlar om svenskar som valt att ansluta sig till Islamiska statens kamp i Syrien och Irak. Varför väljer svenskar att ansluta sig till en våldsbejakande terroristorganisation? Var sker rekryteringen? Medverkar gör bl.a. Dan-Erik Andersson, Leif Stenberg, Andrea Sjøberg Aasgaard, Spyros Sofos, Svante Lundgren, Daniel Norlander, Yassin Ekdahl
Ingmar Karlsson and Spyros Sofos talk about the EU-Turkey Deal and more.
© 2023-2026 Spyros A. Sofos
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