Freedom is the only way to happiness.

     The novel *Happiness in Istanbul* has a comedic ending. This novel isn't about how dark society is, how stubborn traditions are, or how corrupt civilization is. Those aren't the novel's themes. The comedic ending isn't written to please the reader.


    Our readers will find the Turkey depicted in the book very familiar. Globalized civilization coexists with the old era; Istanbul, the ever-expanding metropolis of Turkey, its extravagant lifestyle, its neglected rural-urban fringe areas, powerful gangs or government officials, forced evictions, the loss of faith and its sense of disorientation, the authoritarianism of patriarchs in rural areas, and, less familiarly, the fierce battles against guerrillas on the frontier.


    It seems like a world of despair, but this doesn't prevent the novel's three protagonists from seeking freedom from completely different starting points. As the title of Chapter Twenty-Six states, "To heal one person, you need another," they meet near the end of the story and find their own freedom in another civilization.


    Originally, each of their lives was filled with despair. Mary was raped by her uncle, the village's spiritual leader, and then sentenced to death (a so-called "honor killing"); her brother, Simal, returning from the battlefields against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, felt out of place in his hometown; Professor Ivan found Istanbul's high-class lifestyle a nightmare.


    They could continue in despair. Mary could hang herself in a stable, or be killed without resistance on an overpass, like the girls in her village, and countless others; Simal could kill Mary on his father's orders and return home to live a peaceful life with his fiancée, and as long as he didn't speak, no one would know that the girl died beside these unfinished construction projects, in these desolate, neglected places more barren than the wilderness; the professor could continue to enjoy a comfortable life; modern society offers countless ways to relieve stress, and if all else fails, he could seek help from a psychologist, drugs, or even jump off a building. Countless people have already done so. Some died because of the existence of a certain civilization, others because of its disappearance.


    These three people didn't meet in Istanbul, but Istanbul connected them. What connects them is their own actions. Simal didn't kill Mary at the last moment; the professor finally boarded a ship and floated on the sea. But that wasn't enough. Driven by a yearning for freedom, they seemed to have each broken free from their own limitations and entered a vast world, yet they didn't know how to find it.


    The power of freedom is everywhere. At a village party commemorating the "Victory Day in the Anti-Russian War," the "Russians" actually defeated the "Turks"—this was utterly absurd, such freedom was simply unacceptable. On the train, some mentally unstable old people spat at the domineering state agents, fueling his anger, yet leaving him powerless. Success wasn't guaranteed, but freedom would always unleash itself.


    They still needed to exert their own efforts. The professor recalled his childhood voyages, sailing alone across the opposing straits; Simal and Mary, the siblings, found relatives working in the suburbs and got some work. But that wasn't enough; they also needed some luck to know where they should live.


    Once they found it, there was no going back. When Simal learned that his father was a beast hidden beneath his noble robes, he could no longer return to the village, and his fiancée there was gradually forgotten. In any case, this was for the best; the pain that couldn't be resolved in the village now seemed insignificant.


    Marie knew what she needed and understood her body. The ascetic life in the village might suit some, but it wasn't for her. Regardless, she survived.


    As for the professor, an adult like the author, although he didn't know where he would drift next, he felt he wasn't useless, at least bringing a little happiness to his two children.


    Therefore, this is why the title is "Happiness in Istanbul." Because this kind of happiness can only be found in this chaotic metropolis, in this worst of times, as long as what you seek within it is freedom. This is also the only happiness that civilization can bring.

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