Almost half of the Turkish population believes it is not legitimate to criticize the government. Interestingly, this correlates with the number of… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Turkey has a very young, dynamic, curious population. In Europe, Facebook and Twitter are mostly about sharing daily experiences while for Turkish… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Our politics is very masculine, very aggressive, and it's very polarizing. And the pace of this development has increased in recent years.… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I see two opposite tendencies in Turkish society: people feel demoralized, they lose the interest in politics and retreat to their private… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I realized over the years if I'm writing about humor, irony, satire, I much prefer to do that in English. And if… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I write with humour about sadness, to introduce an element of sweet to the sour, a bit like Turkish food. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
It is tiring to be Turkish. The country is badly polarised, bitterly politicized. Every writer, journalist, poet knows that because of an… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I would like the refugee crisis to become a new beginning in the Turkish-European relationship. But it would be very problematic if,… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture is mostly… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
With 'The Forty Rules of Love,' I wanted to write a love story. But I wanted a love story with a spiritual dimension. For… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission. A… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
The lack of trust in supranational entities and cosmopolitan elite creates a fertile ground for tribalist belongings and reactionary politics. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Obviously, Turkey is not a typical authoritarian regime, and obviously it's very important that there are free elections. But it's also obvious that this… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Feminists are now being vilified in politics, erdogan used to speak more embracingly, saying he was the leader of everyone, whether they voted for… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
We're born into a certain family, nation, class. But if we have no connection whatsoever with the worlds beyond the one we take for… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I write my novels in English first; then they are translated into Turkish by professional translators. Then I take their translation and rewrite. So… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
For me, coming from the women's movement, politics is not just about parties and parliament. There is politics in our private space and in… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
