I Don't Want To Be A Tree;

The Image That I Remember Most Of All Is Of The Fenerbahçe Players Storming Into The Stadium Before Kickoff. They Were Called The Canaries Because Of Their Yellow Jerseys. It Was As If They, Like Canaries, Were Fluttering Into The Stadium Out Of A Hole. I Loved It. It Was Poetry.

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.

For The Traveler We See Leaning On His Neighbor Is An Honest And Well-meaning Man And Full Of Melancholy, Like Those Chekhov Characters So Laden With Virtues That They Never Know Success In Life.

The Beauty And Mystery Of This World Only Emerges Through Affection, Attention, Interest And Compassion . . . Open Your Eyes Wide And Actually See This World By Attending To Its Colors, Details And Irony.

...a Nation Could Change Its Way Of Life, Its History, Its Technology, Its Art, Literature, And Culture, But It Would Never Have A Real Chance To Change Its Gestures.