We are not in prison so we are free and happy? No. We're in a different kind of prison in this life. We have to confront it, and we have to liberate Istanbul and ourselves, as well.

When you go from one part of the Turkish community to another, it's like you're moving from one century to another. People look at each other in a strange way, as if looking at someone from another planet, rather than trying to understand and open space for them.

The Syrian war was started and fueled by three countries in the region, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey. They acted for the sake of political and economic dominance and in favor of Sunni Islam against the Alawite influence in the government of Syria.

We would like to have a great future, so we need to think about the urban philosophy, the urban problems, and the construction of the city. That's the new politics, maybe.

Democracy is to have different ideas, even extreme ones. In democracy there is space for all of them and bridges to connect them. In Turkey we are losing those bridges, and everyone is trying to destroy spaces for the opposite side. When we look at this, Istanbul is like different courtyards divided by big, thick walls.

I've written some short stories about my personal experience, but it's not something you can use everywhere. Every novel, every work of fiction, needs its own food.

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 today, too, in the mixture of past and future. We have to save it today and we have to enjoy it today.

Turkey are the independent people. We are our own nation in this world - a nation of writers, journalists, artists, moviemakers, and academics. We act together. If there is a problem, we act to correct it.