This month we bring you short stories from Turkey. As the country struggles with polarization and instability, the six writers here demonstrate the unifying power of literature in the face of political upheaval and divisions. Yalçın Tosun’s lonely teenaged boys find their routine, and possibly their lives, upended. Deniz Tarsus channels the victims and survivors of an infamous disaster. Behçet Çelik tempts fate by heading out under curfew. Emrah Serbes observes a martyr’s younger brother turned (hapless) terrorist hunter. Karin Karakaşlı reveals the personal side of the political divide between Turks and Armenians. And Sine Ergün’s young man discovers a secret world in a most unlikely place.  From Istanbul, the writer Elliot Ackerman contributes an insightful overview.