Sözde Kızlar

Written in 1923, at the hinge point between the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of the Turkish Republic, Sözde Kızlar ("So-Called Girls") is Peyami Safa's satirical portrait of a generation of young Istanbul women who mistake imitation of Western manners, fashion, and "freedom" for genuine modernity.

Through its central characters, the novel contrasts superficial Westernization — adopted as style and status rather than substance — with a more grounded, authentic path to progress, and traces the personal and social consequences when appearances are mistaken for values. Its critique extends to the men around these women as well, implicating a wider social hypocrisy in the rush to seem modern.

A key document of early Republican-era Turkish literature, Sözde Kızlar remains widely read as both a period piece and a still-pointed argument about the difference between cultural change and cultural imitation.