A Strangeness in My Mind

Chronology

1954

Migrants from the villages in the district of Beyşehir begin to arrive in Istanbul in significant numbers to find work and sell yogurt.

6-7 SEPTEMBER 1955

Non-Muslims in Istanbul are attacked; shops are looted and churches vandalized.

1957

Mevlut Karataş is born Mevlut Aktaş in the Cennetpınar village of the Beyşehir district, in the province of Konya.

27 MAY 1960

Military coup.

17 SEPTEMBER 1961

Former prime minister Adnan Menderes is executed.

1963

Brothers Hasan and Mustafa Aktaş leave their village to find work in Istanbul.

1964

In response to fighting between Turks and Greeks in Cyprus, thousands of Greeks living in Istanbul are expelled from the city by the Turkish government. Many homes in Tarlabaşı are left empty.

1965

Brothers Hasan and Mustafa move into the one-room house they have built in Kültepe, without a permit. Hasan’s elder son, Korkut, joins his father and uncle in Istanbul. Aided by Korkut, Hasan and Mustafa fence off two plots of land in Duttepe and Kültepe.

1965

Construction begins on Duttepe Mosque.

1965

There are rumors of an imminent amnesty for unlawful construction work, and people scramble to erect more unauthorized buildings and homes. The conservative Justice Party, led by Süleyman Demirel, wins the general elections.

1966

Crooked-Necked Abdurrahman stops selling yogurt and makes a permanent return to his village of Gümüşdere.

1968

Hasan Aktaş’s younger son, Süleyman, joins his father, brother, and uncle in Istanbul.

DECEMBER 1968

Hasan, Korkut, and Süleyman leave the house they have been living in with Mustafa and move into the house they have just finished building in Duttepe without a permit, on the land they fenced off in 1965. Hasan Aktaş’s wife, Safiye, joins the rest of her family in Istanbul.

SUMMER 1969

Mustafa Aktaş goes to Beyşehir and changes his own and his family’s surname to Karataş.

SUMMER 1969

Duttepe’s first outdoor cinema, Derya, opens its doors.

LATE SUMMER 1969

When his father returns to Istanbul, Mevlut Karataş goes with him to work and continue his education.

12 MARCH 1971

The army generals’ memorandum to the president and the elected parliament of the Turkish Republic pushes the government to resign.

APRIL 1971

Mevlut meets Ferhat.

1972

At the Elyazar Cinema, Mevlut watches a pornographic film for the first time.

30 OCTOBER 1973

Opening of the first bridge over the Bosphorus, also known as the Atatürk Bridge.

JANUARY 1974

Formal inauguration of the Duttepe Mosque, on the day of the Feast of the Sacrifice.

MARCH 1974

Mevlut begins to stalk a woman he calls Neriman.

20 JULY 1974

The Turkish army lands on Cyprus and occupies the northern part of the island.

MID-1970S

Big companies begin to distribute yogurt in glass and plastic bowls, which start to become increasingly common.

MARCH 1977

Mevlut puts political posters up on walls.

APRIL 1977

Duttepe and Kültepe clash in a war between right- and left-wing militants.

1 MAY 1977

Thirty-four people are killed in Taksim Square in events surrounding the commemoration of International Workers’ Day.

MAY 1978

Hasan Aktaş sells the land he fenced off in 1965 with his brother, Mustafa, to Hadji Hamit Vural.

SUMMER 1978

Mevlut grows a mustache.

AUGUST 1978

Korkut and Vediha’s wedding.

OCTOBER 1978

Mevlut moves out of his father’s house. He goes to live in Tarlabaşı with Ferhat, and they work together as waiters in the Karlıova Restaurant.

19-26 DECEMBER 1978

One hundred and fifty Alevis are killed in the Maraş massacre organized by Sunni militants, secret government services, and ultranationalist paramilitary groups.

1979

Milliyet columnist Celâl Salik is murdered. Ayatollah Khomeini leads the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

LATE 1979

Korkut and Vediha’s first son, Bozkurt, is born.

SPRING 1980

Mevlut leaves for twenty months of compulsory military service.

12 SEPTEMBER 1980

The army launches a coup d’état while Mevlut is with the tank brigade in the small northeastern town of Kars, on the Soviet border.

LATE 1980

Korkut and Vediha’s second son, Turan, is born.

JANUARY 1981

Mevlut’s father, Mustafa Karataş, dies. Mevlut comes back to Istanbul for the funeral and starts renting out his father’s home in Kültepe.

17 MARCH 1982

Having completed his compulsory military service, Mevlut returns to Istanbul and moves into a rented apartment in Tarlabaşı.

2 APRIL-14 JUNE 1982

The Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina.

17 JUNE 1982

Mevlut goes to Gümüşdere village and runs away with Crooked-Necked Abdurrahman’s daughter Rayiha.

SUMMER 1982

Mevlut sells ice cream for the first time.

SEPTEMBER 1982

Mevlut and Rayiha’s wedding.

OCTOBER 1982

Mevlut begins to sell cooked rice and chicken.

NOVEMBER 1982

The results of a referendum back the 1982 Constitution, and the leader of the 1980 coup, Kenan Evren, becomes president of the Republic.

APRIL 1983

Mevlut and Rayiha’s first daughter, Fatma, is born.

APRIL 1983

The ban on abortions is lifted until ten weeks into a pregnancy. Married women seeking an abortion must provide proof of their husbands’ consent.

EARLY 1984

Samiha runs away with Ferhat.

AUGUST 1984

Mevlut and Rayiha’s second daughter, Fevziye, is born.

26 APRIL 1986

After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, clouds carrying nuclear waste reach Turkey.

1986-88

The new Tarlabaşı Avenue is built.

FEBRUARY 1987

The Gloria Theatre burns down.

18 JUNE 1988

Assassination attempt on Prime Minister Turgut Özal.

3 JULY 1988

Opening of the second bridge over the Bosphorus, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, named after Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.

EARLY 1989

Mevlut loses his rice cart to the municipal police. Around this time, he also meets the Holy Guide. Ferhat begins to work as a meter inspector for the electricity board.

4 JUNE 1989

Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

SEPTEMBER 1989

Mevlut starts working as manager of the Binbom Café in Taksim.

9 NOVEMBER 1989

The Berlin Wall falls.

1990–1995

The breakup of Yugoslavia introduces a period of civil war in the Balkans.

1991

The production and distribution of electricity in Turkey is privatized.

17 JANUARY- 28 FEBRUARY 1991

The First Gulf War.

14 NOVEMBER 1991

In the Bosphorus, a ship from Lebanon collides with a ship from the Philippines and sinks along with the twenty thousand sheep it is carrying.

25 DECEMBER 1991

The Soviet Union is dissolved.

24 JANUARY 1993

Radical, secularist columnist and journalist Uğur Mumcu is killed by a bomb placed inside his car.

2 JULY 1993

Thirty-five leftist liberal secular intellectuals are killed when political Islamists burn down the Madımak Hotel in Sivas.

1994-95

The separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish army are at war. Villages are burned down and many Kurds resettle in Istanbul.

EARLY 1994

Ferhat meets Selvihan.

FEBRUARY 1994

Mevlut loses his job at the Binbom Café.

27 MARCH 1994

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wins the local elections and becomes mayor of Istanbul.

30 MARCH 1994

Mevlut is mugged by a man and his son while out selling boza at night.

APRIL 1994

Mevlut and Ferhat open the Brothers-in-Law Boza Shop.

FEBRUARY 1995

Rayiha becomes pregnant for the third time.

MARCH 1995

Korkut gets involved in an attempted Turkish coup against the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev.

12-16 MARCH 1995

Unrest in the Alevi quarters of the Ghaazi and Ümraniye neighborhoods of Istanbul results in the deaths of twelve and five people respectively.

EARLY APRIL 1995

The Brothers-in-Law Boza Shop closes down.

MID-APRIL 1995

Mevlut starts to work as a guard in a parking garage.

MAY 1995

Rayiha dies while trying to induce a miscarriage by herself.

LATE 1995

Upon Ferhat’s suggestion, Mevlut begins to work as an electrical meter inspector.

EARLY 1996

Süleyman marries Mahinur Meryem. They have their first son, Hasan.

NOVEMBER 1997

Ferhat is murdered.

1998

Süleyman’s second son, Kâzım, is born.

JUNE 1998

Mevlut begins to work in the Beyşehir migrants’ association.

FEBRUARY 1999

Having waged a guerrilla war on the national government for fifteen years, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who had been hiding in Syria for many years, is captured by Turkish forces.

SUMMER 1999

Süleyman asks Mevlut to allow Bozkurt to marry Fatma.

17 AUGUST 1999

An earthquake in the Sea of Marmara, close to Istanbul, kills 17,480 people.

LATE SEPTEMBER 2000

Mevlut’s elder daughter, Fatma, goes to university.

JUNE 2001

Fatma meets Burhan at university. They soon get married and move to Izmir.

11 SEPTEMBER 2001

New York’s Twin Towers collapse in an attack by Al Qaeda.

SEPTEMBER 2001

Mevlut’s younger daughter, Fevziye, elopes with Erhan, a taxi driver from Kadırga.

LATE 2001

A hotel in Aksaray hosts Fevziye and Erhan’s wedding ceremony.

2002

Mevlut encounters bottled boza for the first time.

MAY 2002

Fevziye’s son and Mevlut’s grandson Ibrahim is born.

AUTUMN 2002

Mevlut and Samiha get married.

3 NOVEMBER 2002

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) win the general elections and form a government.

MARCH 2003

A ban preventing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from taking office is lifted, and he becomes prime minister.

20 MARCH 2003

Invasion of Iraq.

28 MARCH 2004

The AKP win local elections in Turkey.

7 JULY 2005

Fifty-six people die in London after a series of attacks on subway stations and public buses organized by Al Qaeda.

19 JANUARY 2007

The Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, outspoken about the Armenian genocide, is shot dead.

22 JULY 2007

The AKP win the general elections.

29 MARCH 2009

The AKP win the local elections again (gaining ground in Duttepe and Kültepe).

APRIL 2009

Mevlut sells his father’s house to buy an apartment.

17 DECEMBER 2010

A street vendor sets himself on fire in Tunisia, leading to a series of the protests and revolutions known as the “Arab Spring.”

MARCH 2011 AND THEREAFTER

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees flee to Turkey.

12 JUNE 2011

The AKP win the general elections.

MARCH 2012

The Karataş and Aktaş families move into their new apartments.