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 identit…

- Burhan Sonmez

Someone might say about a person, "Oh, they are a 'Westerner." But who are Westerners? Greek, Bulgarian, German, English, Scandinavian, Spanish, Amer…

- Burhan Sonmez

So many academics have been imprisoned or expelled from their university posts just because they signed a letter calling for peaceful solution to the…

- Burhan Sonmez

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…

- Burhan Sonmez

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 the…

- Burhan Sonmez

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 …

- Burhan Sonmez

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…

- Burhan Sonmez

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

- Burhan Sonmez

"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 …

- Burhan Sonmez