Burhan Sonmez: When you go from one part of the Turkish community to a...

When I decided to write a novel about Istanbul, I thought I should put the different faces of Istanbul into one book. I also put the characters in a cell, and it's three stories underground, rather than on the surface. The characters have one Istanbul, the other one is above ground. One is in dark, one is in light. That kind of contradiction - those opposite sides - creates a great energy in Istanbul.

Burhan Sonmez

writing character book

"Culture" is a new phenomenon, I believe. Culture is the new religion. People treat you based upon your culture. You are pushed to describe yourself by your culture: Kurdish or Turkish? Left wing or right wing? Progressive or conservative? Westerner or Easterner? European or Asian? So we have a label ready for you.

Burhan Sonmez

being-yourself believe people

We have to consider culture respectfully, but on the other hand, it's dangerous. When we begin talking about cultures, we begin forgetting about individuals. Every individual is unique. Mankind has common feelings and ideas, but we might have some other connections, too. For example, I might be very close to someone in New York in some way. Because of the music I like or how I like to watch soccer games, or because I like to read Russian classics.

Burhan Sonmez

unique feelings soccer

Nowadays it's a big issue in Europe because you are forced to describe yourself by your culture, and you begin to forget about yourself, your identity. You're supposed to act in certain ways. You're limited. When you try to go outside the lines to go into some other garden, then you're blamed and stoned because it's like blasphemy. When we talk about culture, we have to see those two sides to it. When we ignore it, it's dangerous. When we talk about it too much, it's also dangerous. We have to have a moderate balance.

Burhan Sonmez

being-yourself balance garden

Someone might say about a person, "Oh, they are a 'Westerner." But who are Westerners? Greek, Bulgarian, German, English, Scandinavian, Spanish, American, Latin. All different nations, all different people. Different individuals live in the West. There's no such thing as "West" just as there's no such things as "East." What is "East?" Turkey, Iran, China, India, Japan. They are all different. They are all unique.

Burhan Sonmez

unique latin people

Maybe divisions like that are easy for people to accept, because then you don't have to make an effort to understand people or appreciate each of them. You just give them a general name: "black people" and "white people." "Tall people" and "short people." "Man" and "woman." But we have to forget about all those terms. Every individual is unique in herself or himself.

Burhan Sonmez

unique men people

It's a bit questionable whether Turkey is a model country or not, since our government is supporting ISIS in Syria, since there are legislations that are not in line with democratic rules.

Burhan Sonmez

questionable democratic country

So many academics have been imprisoned or expelled from their university posts just because they signed a letter calling for peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. They are all declared enemies of the state by the president. Just because they published a letter saying, "stop killing each other and begin talking for a peaceful resolution." That kind of intolerance from the government towards the rest of society - especially people in favor of freedom of speech, human rights, and more democracy for everyone - is a very important issue in Turkey.

Burhan Sonmez

freedom-of-speech peaceful people

I believe Tunisia and Egypt should look to Turkey and see what not to do. Turkey seems to be a secular and democratic country but it is only a show. We are losing the effectiveness of democratic institutions like parliament and judiciary. They now are turning into tools for the benefit of a president-ordering system. A democratic government is possible only on a comprehensive democratic base surrounded by the participatory action of ordinary people.

Burhan Sonmez

believe country people

The Syrian war was started and fueled by three countries in the region, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey. They acted for the sake of political and economic dominance and in favor of Sunni Islam against the Alawite influence in the government of Syria.

Burhan Sonmez

political war country

Syrian people have right to fight for democracy and freedom in their country but they don't need the penetration of foreign elements, fundamentalist ideologies and violence.

Burhan Sonmez

fighting country people

Some people are like a defeated warrior: they accept the defeat, go to work, go back home, watch TV silently. That is like a prison. You can have a life sentence in prison and it's the same in cities.

Burhan Sonmez

warrior home people

Democracy is to have different ideas, even extreme ones. In democracy there is space for all of them and bridges to connect them. In Turkey we are losing those bridges, and everyone is trying to destroy spaces for the opposite side. When we look at this, Istanbul is like different courtyards divided by big, thick walls.

Burhan Sonmez

wall democracy trying

Istanbul is divided by time, not space. The first Istanbul is the Istanbul of the past. A long time ago, during the empire, it was beautiful, it was the glorious time of our nation, people say. Then, when they talk about today, they complain about it: It's very melancholic, it's very stressful. We've lost our golden age in the past, and now we're living in our dark era.

Burhan Sonmez

dark beautiful past

People feel that the beauty of the Istanbul is something we used to have in the past or something we will have in the future. But we have that beauty today, too, in the mixture of past and future. We have to save it today and we have to enjoy it today.

Burhan Sonmez

today people past

When people are not in a prison cell they believe they are free and happy. That's not true. Because in Istanbul, the modern person wakes up at 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock in the morning, gets on the bus for two hours to get to work, works at least ten hours, sometimes twelve or fourteen, then comes back home, just to make some money to pay for rent and food. That's not a human being's life. That's the life of a worm in the earth. That's the life of an insect.

Burhan Sonmez

home morning believe

We are not in prison so we are free and happy? No. We're in a different kind of prison in this life. We have to confront it, and we have to liberate Istanbul and ourselves, as well.

Burhan Sonmez

different prison kind

We would like to have a great future, so we need to think about the urban philosophy, the urban problems, and the construction of the city. That's the new politics, maybe.

Burhan Sonmez

urban philosophy thinking

Without any hope you cannot talk about suffering. If you talk about suffering without hope it's enjoying our euthanization. I tried to avoid euthanization enjoyment.

Burhan Sonmez

without-hope enjoy suffering

Laughter is something we have against oppression and oppressive people. Dictators hate people who laugh at them. It's easy for them to destroy people who resist them. But if you create jokes against them, write funny poems or articles against them, then they feel helpless and desperate. They can't do anything.

Burhan Sonmez

laughter hate writing

When you go from one part of the Turkish community to another, it's like you're moving from one century to another. People look at each other in a strange way, as if looking at someone from another planet, rather than trying to understand and open space for them.