Orhan Pamuk - A Strangeness in My Mind

Selvihan: Ferhat’s mysterious lover. Her first meeting with Ferhat

Show-Off Fevzi: teacher; 7.2; 16.1

Skeleton: vice principal, 5.1; 7.2; 7.1;8.1; 8.2; on street vendors, 8.1; on school diplomas, 8.2; 13.1; 13.1

Süleyman: Mevlut’s cousin; Korkut’s younger brother, 1.1; 3.1; 3.2; showing Mevlut around Kültepe, 5.1; 5.2; 5.3; 5.4; 9.1; 11.2; 12.1; 12.1; 14.1; 14.2; 15.1; 16.1; on Samiha and Rayiha, 16.2; 20.1; the neighborhood councilman’s papers, 21.1; helping Mevlut elope, 21.2; 22.1; at Mevlut’s wedding, 24.1, 24.2; 27.1; 27.2; 27.3; 27.4; 27.5; 28.1; in Kabataş and Tarlabaşı, 29.1; at the Canopy Restaurant, 29.2; 32.1; 32.2; 32.3; 34.1; 34.2; 34.3; 36.1; running into Samiha, 41.1, 41.2, 41.3; 41.4; 45.1; at Rayiha’s funeral, 45.2; at the police station, 49.1; the migrants’ association, 49.2; asking Mevlut for Fatma’s hand for Bozkurt, 50.1; 50.2; making peace between Mevlut and Fevziye, 51.1; on Mevlut and Samiha, 52.1; 57.2

(Uncle) Tahir from Torul: restaurant manager. Haggles with Mevlut over the cost of yogurt

Tarık: Korkut’s friend from the secret service, 13.1; in Azerbaijan, 42.1

Turan: Korkut and Vediha’s younger son. His birth, 20.1; 21.1; 21.1; when Samiha elopes, 27.1; 48.1; when he gets married and has a child, 57.1

Turgut Pasha: commander of the army base in Kars, 19.1, 20.1, 20.2, 57.1

Vahit: Binbom Café employee, 38.1; watching TV, 38.2; confessions and threats, 39.1

Vediha: Abdurrahman Efendi’s eldest daughter; Korkut Aktaş’s wife; Bozkurt and Turan’s mother, 3.1; 8.1; 14.1; her wedding, 16.1; 20.1; when Samiha runs away, 27.1, 27.2, 27.3, 27.4; finding Süleyman a wife, 32.1, 32.2, 32.3; on pregnancy, 43.1; 45.1; 45.2; on Mahinur, 47.1; 48.1; Is it right? 48.1; the contract, 56.1; her married life with Korkut, 57.1

(The) Weasel: employee at the Binbom Café

Zeliha: Samiha’s friend, a maid, 30.1; 31.1; 31.1; in Mrs. Nalan’s apartment, 31.1

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.