A collection of bilingual short stories and poetry. Two Cypriot women scattered by the winds of war. Two sisters. They have been apart since 1963. One lives in London and writes short stories, the other writes poetry in Nicosia. For a long time neither knew the other wrote. They write about lost childhoods, friends, places left on the ‘other’ side, divided by barbed wire and mine fields. Theirs is a rebellion against personal and political injustice. Voices of longing and love for the past and the future. They tell it with passion…

Aydın describes symbols of division, such as barbed wire, which created a focus for the reunification movement, and how it has now gone. The next step for Cypriots is to face the crimes of the past, she says, and advocates a process of truth and reconciliation. Then we have to start looking at Cyprus in a multi-cultural context, she believes. “The more you talk about bi-communal, the more polarized you become,” she says. The stories are colourful, and at times painfully intimate. She does not shy away from painful memories and lays her heart, body and soul on the line… Pink Butterflies/Bize Dair is an important insight into the Turkish Cypriot psyche, both from the point of view of one who has been away for a long time, and from that of one who never left. It also reveals a great deal on the nature of Turkish Cypriot womanhood.

Simon Bahçeli  – Cyprus Mail (2005). Journalist, film maker. Cyprus/UK

I remember how connected and moved I felt when she first read part of her short story “Pink Butterflies”. I was awed by her voice, and her words, that so effortlessly filled the space and transposed it to another world. Since then, I’ve had my copy of her book with me in London, with her inscription scribbled inside, “Here’s to childhoods which create us as we recreate ourselves.” Her words, wise and true are as meaningful to me today as they were then… I am lucky to know this remarkable woman and writer. Her creative restlessness, honesty, and fearlessness are a ceaseless source of inspiration for me… Her writing is a treasure, just as she is. (2013)

Eleni Skarpari, MA, singer/songwriter, actress, award winning writer. Cyprus/London. …

Some words and memories cannot be translated or rather if they are, they become dull, lose their power and life. There is only one language in which these stories can be told. This is the language of those who live away from the lands on which they were born; they have been either invaded or forced to migrate. This is the language of the dispossessed, of rootlessness…Metin Şenergüç, artist,art critic. www.acikgazete.com, (2005)

Author: Aydin Mehmet Ali

FATAL publications/2005/166