To savour Istanbul's back streets, to appreciate the vines and trees that endow its ruins with accidental grace, you must, first and foremost, be a stranger to them.

When something explosive is kept hidden away, a tension builds within that must ultimately be released.

My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.

As much as I live I shall not imitate them or hate myself for being different to them

In the mornings I used to say goodbye to my wife like someone going to work. I'd leave the house, walk around a few blocks, and come back like a person arriving at the office.

Turks have a dismissive phrase: he works like a clerk. I have turned this insult around: I am proud to say that I work like a clerk.

I certainly see myself more as a craftsman than as an artist.