Translators From Turkey

"Happy Greece has returned to democracy. Only wish is that the new government should realise the value of close cooperation between Turkey and Greece."

"Some members of the European Union may think that it will take many years for Turkey to become a full-member. But, I am convinced that given the dynamism of the Turkish people and their attachment to democracy, we will achieve this objective in a far shorter period."

"Yet, whatever the negative effects of such external factors may be, surmounting our deficiencies is primarily our own task and responsibility."

"Turkey, is the leader country in democracy and secularism among the countries having a majority of Muslim population."

"The Turks have been Europeans for 600 years. But the Turks are not only Europeans. They are also Asian, Caucasian and Middle Eastern at once."

"The Bosphorus bridges do not only straddle the two sides of Istanbul but they also unite the continents of Europe and Asia. And this, not only in geographic terms, but in the political and cultural senses of the word as well."

"In a democratic country at our stage of development, the social feasibility of stabilisation measures is at least as important as their economic feasibility. In such a country a static stability does not work or, even when it seems to work, it backfires at one stage. It has to be a dynamic stability, ensuring a certain momentum in growth and development."

"The unity of the Turkish nation is based on the fact that ethnic differentiation is alien to the traditional attitudes and social relations of the people of Turkey. Throughout history, ethnic or religious conflicts emerged in Turkey only when there were provocations from outside."

"Turkey has been one of the most rapidly changing societies of this age. Problems and conflicts arising out of change and transition have therefore been rather acute in Turkey. Change in Turkey did not start at the infrastructural level alone. Infrastructural and superstructural change have been taking place simultaneously. In some cases superstructural change has even preceded infrastructural change. The shocks and tremors of such a process of comprehensive and accelerated change were to some extent alleviated by the democratic regime which gave vent to the frustration caused by difficulties of adaptation, while at the same time increasing the difficulties of preserving democracy."

"It is no easy matter to make democracy live and to live by democracy for a country grappling with the tremendous difficulties and handicaps of being at the stage of development. The temptation may often be aroused, in the face of such difficulties, to look for deceptive short cuts that unwittingly may cause the society to drift away from the course of democracy – a course that requires patience, perseverance and tolerance."

"However, the refusal of the European Union to grant membership to Turkey has played an educative role. It's made us realize that the world does not consist of Western Europe alone, that a country can become strong politically and economically by concentrating, by diversifying its international relations, all the world over, and we have been doing that with increasing success."

"There are, today, a greater number of Islamic countries progressing towards democracy or practicing a degree of, some degrees of democracy than a decade or two earlier. I believe that Turkey's example has played an important role in this respect, because the Turkish experiment has proven that Islam can be compatible with modernity, with secularism, and with democracy."

"Turkey is, I believe, a model for Islamic countries for the sake of her democracy and modernization. Of course, some circles try to subvert this regime, but it has been solidly entrenched, and I think that its influence is becoming wider in the world."

"After the bipolar world ended and the Soviet Union dissipated, many political circles, or political observers, students in North European countries, thought that Turkey's security value for the Western countries had been considerably diminished. But as a world power, the United States saw the facts earlier than most European countries, and realized that, on the contrary, after the ending of the bipolar world, the geopolitical importance of Turkey would have been augmented very much because, with the ending of the Soviet Union, the merger of Europe and Asia had gained pace and Turkey played a key role, a pivotal role in this merger of the two big continents."

"I am finally ready for the world. I hope it’s ready for me."

"Life is words in action, literature is action in words."

"Enter Love, exit Theory of Love."

"Is sincerity a virtue by itself? A serial killer has also acted sincerely."

"The art of dying is part of the art of living."

"Sociology: A branch of primatology."

"If only procrastination could be postponed!"

"One who doesn’t know law thinks one lives in a jungle. One who knows law knows one lives in a jungle."

"Alexandre the Great was unable to untie the Gordion Knot. He simply cut it."

"You summarise your struggle for 20 years in 20 minutes and your child will remember 2 sentences, which is good."

"If life were enough for vitality, there would be no art."

"An apprentice is a master in dreams. A master is an apprentice even in dreams."

"The process of creative discovery is endless. That’s why “holiness” tends to limit mental vitality and progress by freezing a given work (a life guide) in time, no matter how interpretations differ and even change over the years."

"I write worstsellers. I guess most of my readers are themselves writers. Myself, for example."

"“The child is naked!” said the King. “Which one isn’t?” asked a mother, “Except your own children!”"

"To your utmost, listen to every beautiful song As though filling all the self with sound and melody One should plunge head-first into life As one dives from a cliff into the emerald sea"

"A person can gaze at the sky for hours Can gaze for hours at a bird, a child, the sea To live on the earth is to become part of it To strike down roots that won't pull free"

"I've learned some things from having lived: If you're alive, experience one thing with all your power Your beloved should be worn out from being kissed And you should drop exhausted from the smelling of a flower"

"They were eyes, that while gazing on the world Rendered it brilliant with meaning They were eyes, that embraced me with glances They were eyes, for which I now hopelessly long"

"The poet should be responsible to the poem."

"A poem is a living organism."

"Creativity is a hidden gem. Education is needed to uncover it."

"In the most affirming places of their love Suddenly they grew tired, out of breath Little by little they felt the death Of some places left in darkness"

"Once more in that hour of darkness In dark black waters they arise Dark songs pass before their eyes They lie awake gazing into darkness"

"I want to write poetry, I'm bored, disgusted by my habits If I stop thinking and put my hands down perhaps I will have much to say I'm scurrying to the attic like a solitary bug Before you become old and ugly, I must kiss you on the nose"

"I'd make me into a brand new sailor if I were God Maybe there were new things over there It comes from within me to write as though rabid, I'm hungry, do you understand Let the doctors call it what they will Who can know anything best of all What does it mean to know anything best Which religion doesn't grow old"

"Writing poems is perhaps the loveliest deception Later they'll make a picture or something, then go and drink wine"

"Is the truth of tablecloths to be spread? How awful always to take refuge in known words A person should let himself go."

"Gulls into the water, women proudly into the bazaars I was going to write a poem, I was stifling, fed up with old things Eat, my mother says, but they're all things I've grown accustomed to, in the end. Like Camus and — I don’t know — people like that, I'm cracking up Everything will begin when it untangles itself from your hair"

"Death, one experiences alone Love is a two-person thing"

"I've learned some things from having lived: If you're alive, experience largely, merge with rivers, heavens, cosmos For what we call living is a gift given to life And life is a gift bestowed upon us"

"Distant lands should draw you, people you don't know To read every book, know other's lives, you should be burning You shouldn't exchange for anything the pleasure of a glass of water No matter how much the joy, your life should be filled with yearning"

"I do not remember any other term when the force that had captured the political power in this country had become so vulgar as it is today, so corrupt, and so hypocritical; when the legal system had been so downtrodden, deteriorated, collapsed and turned into a means of cruelty."