Once upon a Time in Turkey

Proem

Bir Varmis, Bir Yokmus . . .

The phrase above echoes the opening lines of Turkish fairy tales. As a child, I heard them time after time. It is impossible for me to estimate the number of the nights during which my mother read children stories to me, starting with "Bir Varmis, Bir Yokmus" ("Once upon a Time"). My first utterances might as well have been a semblance of this fairy tale-opener. Little did I know that I would conceive in these words the title of this book, my first autobiographical fiction, while sitting on my patio one hot summer day in 2016.

At the core of our human existence, there is a three-dimensional reality: We are born, we live, we die. Secretly or overtly, we hope that we embody a meaningful existence and will matter to our beloveds throughout the in-between-phase called "life". At the juncture of an advanced age, I dare to admit that my desire to live on has been strong all along. This collection of short stories based on my own life comes to you as my quest to leave a permanent token for my loved ones. It signifies also my commemoration of my beloveds who are no longer in the realm of what we perceive to be our sole reality. Their lives mattered and continue to matter to me.

Once upon a Time in Turkey is anything but a fairy tale as I have stated above. It embodies the hybrid literary genre of fictional autobiography. For my narrations, I have adopted elements that are inherent in and integral to creative fiction. The stories are true. They are, however, dressed in imaginary attires to some extent. With the exception of my close family members and a few acquaintances, no name has been used in full. Flashbacks dominate the storytelling process but without the constraints of a chronological order. For I have taken poetic license as regards to the stream of consciousness.

As if wafted by a cool breeze on that hot summer day in 2016, laughter, tears, fears, awakenings, regrets and hopes from a long-ago-past woke up from their constant slumber. Neglected pieces of numbed emotions, feelings and thoughts resurfaced from their remote corners. As a result, the memories I had assumed to be forgotten began to voice themselves deep inside.

Would you join me around this gathering of tales which resided in my country of birth, Turkey, in my early years, but also traveled from her to and through numerous large German cities and small towns to your doorstep? Would you accompany me as a Turkish girl, teenager and young woman who existed between cultures while having been birthed in Turkey once upon a time?