no friends but the mountains
On my Substack, No Friends but the Mountains, I write about identity, migration, love, and beauty. Subscribe to my newsletter for free and receive all my texts directly in your inbox.
For over 14 years, I have been working as a journalist and author for German media. Now, I feel compelled to open my world not only to readers in English but also to a space where words dance around topics close to my heart, allowing myself more freedom in my writings and thoughts.
As the daughter of a classic guest worker family from Anatolia, born in West Germany, and deeply interested in politics, society, and culture, I have long been torn between universal topics such as democracy, human rights, and freedom, and subjects that matter to me directly: migration, Turkey, and identity issues. I have come to realize how deeply these universal themes are rooted in identity and migration. The homeland of my parents and grandparents serves as both a battleground and a playground for these universal principles.
As a writer and journalist, I recognized early on that I could not withhold my own thoughts and observations from the essays, articles, and interviews I write. I saw how the objective world I aimed to depict melted between my hands, gaining new forms influenced by the dynamics of my inner world. You can call it New Journalism. I do not reject objectivity or facts, but I do like to intertwine and unhinge the objective world from my own experiences.
This is why I am starting “No Friends but the Mountains,” asking myself:
What is identity? Does it change? And if so, when? And if so, why? And if so, to what?
What do my roots in Dersim, Anatolia, tell me about my life in Frankfurt, Germany?
What does it mean to be a child of immigrants when it comes to love? What does it tell me about my friendships?
And where can I regain the beauty of the mountains that shaped the view of my ancestors while I look at the skyscrapers of big, loud cities?
Where is freedom for me—in my roots or in my uprooting?
“No Friends but the Mountains” is a series of texts (essays, interviews, articles, and poems) about identity, migration, love, and beauty. It is about me, and maybe about you.
I hope you enjoy my words, and I would love to hear from you anytime. Just text me whenever you like.
xoxo
With love,
Cigdem
Artwork by Elif Hoskeser