They have strangled the birds, torn the grass from the earth, and left the roads to sink in mud.
The world is changing, my friends. One day, in the autumn sky, you will no longer glimpse the dark brown specks. One day, along the roadside, you will no longer see Mother Earth’s deep green hair. Not for us, but for you, children—it will be sorrowful. We have beheld too many birds and too much green. For you, it will be a loss. This is the tale I leave behind.’Sait Faik Abasıyanık
Sait Faik Abasıyanık in his youth
Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906–1954), one of Turkey’s most celebrated short story writers, remains inseparable from the landscapes that inspired his prose. Among these, Burgazada, one of the Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara, holds a special place. For Sait Faik, Burgazada was not merely a residence; it was a sanctuary and a muse.
Burgazada
Burgazada, the third largest of the Princes’ Islands near Istanbul, has long been a refuge for artists, writers, and those seeking respite from the city’s chaos. Its serene streets, dotted with historic mansions, pine groves, and the salty scent of the sea, offered Sait Faik a space to observe life with empathy. The island’s rhythm—its fishermen, the occasional visitor, the cats wandering freely, the gentle lapping of the waves—became a recurring presence in his stories.
A street in Burgazada
Sait Faik moved to Burgazada in the 1930s, and it quickly became his lifelong retreat. Unlike many writers who used the island merely as a backdrop, Sait Faik integrated its very essence into his storytelling such as his tales like “The Night in the Harbor” and “The Wind on the Island”.
His connection to Burgazada was not just aesthetic. Sait Faik was profoundly attuned to the marginalized and the overlooked: street children, fishermen, laborers, and even the island’s stray cats. His empathy mirrored the island’s quiet intimacy, where no one was truly anonymous and every story had a listener. Burgazada provided both physical and emotional space for this attentiveness, allowing him to capture fleeting moments of life with a lyrical, almost photographic, precision.
Sait Faik’s House in Burgazada
Today, Burgazada remains a living monument to Sait Faik. His former house, converted into the Sait Faik Museum, preserves manuscripts, letters, and personal belongings, offering visitors a glimpse into his private world.
A corner from his museum house
Make sure to visit Burgazada and the great master’s home to have a glimpse of old Istanbul! Walking the island’s streets, you will sense the traces of his presence: a cat lounging in the sun, the scent of the sea mingling with pine, a quiet corner that seems to whisper a story waiting to be told.
Prominent Turkish musician Fazıl Say composed for the great master to commemorate him! Let’s lend an ear.
