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The secularists in Turkey haven't underestimated religion, they just made the mistake of believing they could control it with the power of the army alone.

Orhan Pamuk

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Orhan Pamuk
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: June 7
Academic
Author
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
İstanbul
Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk
Believe
Havens
Haven
Control
Secularists
Mistake
Underestimated
Alone
Turkeys
Religion
Turkey
Power
Believing
Made
Army

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Nationalism stems from catastrophes, whether they are caused by earthquakes or lost wars.
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The bloody years of war and all the atrocities in European history have taught the Europeans that secular politics free of religious hatred is mainly a question of peace. This concept is not anchored in the same way in the consciousness of Turks, which has to do with the fact that the secular was forced upon us by the army.
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We live but for a short time, we see but very little, and we know almost nothing so, at least, let's do some dreaming. Have yourself a very good Sunday, my dear readers.
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To read a novel is to wonder constantly, even at moments when we lose ourselves most deeply in the book: How much of this is fantasy, and how much is real?
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My diary has its own kind of magic. It gives me the feeling of having accomplished something. On days when I don't have time for this, I feel tortured.
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Of course in Turkey I'm seen as being on the 'Western' side, criticised by the nationalists, criticised by the communitarians as not belonging. Even, sometimes, criticised for looking at my country through Western eyes. And in the Western media I'm portrayed as belonging to the East.
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Mankind's greatest error, the biggest deception of the past thousand years is this: to confuse poverty with stupidity.
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Time had not faded my memories (as I had prayed to God it might), nor had it healed my wounds as it is said always to do. I began each day with the hope that the next day would be better, my recollections a little less pointed, but I would awake to the same pain, as if a black lamp were burning eternally inside me, radiating darkness.
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Turkish football serves the cause of nationalism, but not of the nation.
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I need the pain of loneliness to make my imagination work.
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I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.
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I realized that the longing for art, like the longing for love, is a malady that blinds us, and makes us forget the things we already know, obscuring reality.
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Colour is the touch of the eye, Music to the deaf, A word out of darkness.
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Writing my own diary is the best form of remembrance, but only for my own use. I need these notes it's like an impulse.
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The first thing I learned at school was that some people are idiots the second thing I learned was that some are even worse.
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I see Turkey's future as being in Europe, as one of many prosperous, tolerant, democratic countries.
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