246 Quotes by Elif Shafak

Article Five: If you have no reason or ability to accomplish anything, then just practice the art of becoming.

In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state – as if this state were fragile and needed protection – when in fact, it’s too powerful already.

But let us not forget that cities are like human beings. They are born, they go through childhood and adolescence, they grow old, and eventually they die.

I see two opposite tendencies in Turkish society: people feel demoralized, they lose the interest in politics and retreat to their private lives; or they become very angry and even more politicized, and radicalized. Both trends are troublesome.

I remember a time when it was ok to make fun of politicians and powerful people. Now, it’s not ok anymore. We’ve forgotten how to laugh.

We cannot abandon this rabbit hole for fear of a traumatic encounter with our own culture.

Our politics is very masculine, very aggressive, and it’s very polarizing. And the pace of this development has increased in recent years. Erdogan is, in my eyes, the most polarizing politician in recent Turkish political history.

I would like the refugee crisis to become a new beginning in the Turkish-European relationship. But it would be very problematic if, during this process, human rights were forgotten. Democracy needs to be the priority.

Sometimes I feel I have more faith in European ideals than some of my British or French friends. For them, it’s a financial burden. For me, Europe is primarily about values, about fundamental rights, freedom, women’s rights.