Elif Safak
Elif Safak
Elif Şafakis a Turkish author, columnist, speaker and academic...
NationalityTurkish
ProfessionAuthor
CountryTurkey
believe government optimism
I believe in optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect. But my hope is the people, the society, which is ahead of the government.
government democracy majority
I am very worried about this concentration of power, and it's not only because of Erdogan. We have the ballot box, but we don't have the culture of democracy. The government says: You see, we have the majority, we're entitled to do anything we want. But that's not democracy, that's majoritarianism.
believe government numbers
Almost half of the Turkish population believes it is not legitimate to criticize the government. Interestingly, this correlates with the number of supporters of Erdogan's government.
passing-away doe world
While the parts change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born. And every decent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way not only does nothing remain the same but also nothing ever really changes.
above chaotic characters demand intuition placing process pulling puppeteer rather resist
I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a puppeteer pulling strings. For me, it's a scary, chaotic process over which I have little control. Words demand other words, characters resist me.
bit element food humour introduce turkish
I write with humour about sadness, to introduce an element of sweet to the sour, a bit like Turkish food.
across biggest connect create gender god religious
God is the biggest storyteller, and when we create stories, we connect with him and with each other across cultural, religious and gender boundaries.
connected god stories
For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God.
childhood entire observing spent
I spent my entire childhood observing people. I still do.
believe books change connected empathize happened learn save saved stories
Books change us. Books save us. I know this because it happened to me. Books saved me. So, I do believe through stories we can learn to change, we can learn to empathize and be more connected with the universe and with humanity.
families grow perhaps raised single
I find families intriguing, perhaps because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a feminist, independent, single mother, a divorcee.
languages love
I love commuting between languages just like I love commuting between cultures and cities.
grief people empathy
After the Ankara bombings on October 10, people were asked to hold a minute of silence, but many refused. Our society can't even unite in grief to honor the victims. We've lost our empathy. That's maybe the worst.
bridges cities appreciate
Yeah, we should all line up along the Bosphorus Bridge and puff as hard as we can to shove this city in the direction of the West. If that doesn't work, we'll try the other way, see if we can veer to the East. It's no good to be in between. International politics does not appreciate ambiguity.