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The Palace of Tears: A Novel
It is 1868. On a balmy autumn afternoon in Paris, young winemaker Casimir de Châteauneuf wanders into a small shop filled with curiosities from the Orient. There he spies a cache of fine miniature portraits.
Above all others, an ivory-skinned beauty captivates him. Her eyes ... one blue, the other yellow. That night they pursue Casimir in his dreams, as one burning question consumes Who is she?
Thus begins Alev Croutier’s lush, stirring adventure of the heart — a mesmerizing tale of forbidden passion, true love, and destiny. For Casimir will forsake his family, his vocation, and his country to find the object of his obsession.
His journey will lead him across desert and sea, from the Royal Court in Paris to a sultan’s palace in Istanbul. And there he will find the woman of his reveries, the woman with one blue eye, the other yellow.
But in this city of passion, in a Palace of Tears, Casimir is about to discover what it will mean to make a dream real ... and what awaits him when his lover is set free.
Above all others, an ivory-skinned beauty captivates him. Her eyes ... one blue, the other yellow. That night they pursue Casimir in his dreams, as one burning question consumes Who is she?
Thus begins Alev Croutier’s lush, stirring adventure of the heart — a mesmerizing tale of forbidden passion, true love, and destiny. For Casimir will forsake his family, his vocation, and his country to find the object of his obsession.
His journey will lead him across desert and sea, from the Royal Court in Paris to a sultan’s palace in Istanbul. And there he will find the woman of his reveries, the woman with one blue eye, the other yellow.
But in this city of passion, in a Palace of Tears, Casimir is about to discover what it will mean to make a dream real ... and what awaits him when his lover is set free.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
5 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Alev Lytle Croutier
13 books28 followersAlev Croutier was born in Turkey. She has written and directed award-winning independent films and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (the first ever for a screenplay) for her work on Tell Me a Riddle. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller Harem: The World Behind the Veil. She divides her time between San Francisco and Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 9, 2023
This book was written so I could weep!
This was a 🇺🇦 turkey in so many ways, involving a girl with unlikely heterochromic eyes, one blue, one yellow. The confabulations continued in this novel set in late 19th century Europe, a love story between ‘The Orient and the West”; a “slave-girl to a deceased concubine banished to The Palace of Tears” and a landed member of the French bourgeoisie who forsakes his expansive Côtes de Rhône vineyards to search for the subject of a miniature portrait he’s chanced on in his dissolute travels, renounce his faith for Islam and live happily ever after on a barren hillside in Macedonia to grow grapes. This doesn’t work so he makes gunpowder instead because, after all, isn’t that what one does when there’s another Franco-Prussian war about to commence?
There’s a few other items of historical padding in there-Empress Eugénie goes to open the Suez Canal; Ferdinand de Lesseps, the architect of said canal, makes an appearance; even Madame Bovary gets the obligatory mention but overall, it really does little for the plot.
Good bits: the cover illustration of “L’odalisque à l’enclave” by Jean Augusta Dominique Ingres graced my edition of the book; the filigree Oriental ornamentations of the 69 chapter headings; multiple unattributed pencil sketches embroidering the novel.
The following quotes:
The minute I heard my first love story
I began searching for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They are in each other all along.
Attr. RUMI
Journeying in search of romance,
and that, after all,
is our business in this world.
Attr. JOSEPH CONRAD
“Hope is agony postponed” p.174
“Love is the name given to sorrow to console those who suffer” p.178
The bad bits: really corny names, eg a peripatetic painter called Nomad; the word vs page count veered very much in favour of the latter eg 1 chapter comprised a 15 word sentence hence a very slight novel; utterly forgettable plot with an impossible occurrence, etc.
And, what’s worse, an experienced author in a reputable publishing house (Vantage Random House) who seem to think that “lickerishness” is a word that aforementioned Empress would ascribe to her husband. And a sentence with a double negative that made no sense whatsoever. Summed up the book really for me.
1.75 sneakily spotted ✨
This was a 🇺🇦 turkey in so many ways, involving a girl with unlikely heterochromic eyes, one blue, one yellow. The confabulations continued in this novel set in late 19th century Europe, a love story between ‘The Orient and the West”; a “slave-girl to a deceased concubine banished to The Palace of Tears” and a landed member of the French bourgeoisie who forsakes his expansive Côtes de Rhône vineyards to search for the subject of a miniature portrait he’s chanced on in his dissolute travels, renounce his faith for Islam and live happily ever after on a barren hillside in Macedonia to grow grapes. This doesn’t work so he makes gunpowder instead because, after all, isn’t that what one does when there’s another Franco-Prussian war about to commence?
There’s a few other items of historical padding in there-Empress Eugénie goes to open the Suez Canal; Ferdinand de Lesseps, the architect of said canal, makes an appearance; even Madame Bovary gets the obligatory mention but overall, it really does little for the plot.
Good bits: the cover illustration of “L’odalisque à l’enclave” by Jean Augusta Dominique Ingres graced my edition of the book; the filigree Oriental ornamentations of the 69 chapter headings; multiple unattributed pencil sketches embroidering the novel.
The following quotes:
The minute I heard my first love story
I began searching for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They are in each other all along.
Attr. RUMI
Journeying in search of romance,
and that, after all,
is our business in this world.
Attr. JOSEPH CONRAD
“Hope is agony postponed” p.174
“Love is the name given to sorrow to console those who suffer” p.178
The bad bits: really corny names, eg a peripatetic painter called Nomad; the word vs page count veered very much in favour of the latter eg 1 chapter comprised a 15 word sentence hence a very slight novel; utterly forgettable plot with an impossible occurrence, etc.
And, what’s worse, an experienced author in a reputable publishing house (Vantage Random House) who seem to think that “lickerishness” is a word that aforementioned Empress would ascribe to her husband. And a sentence with a double negative that made no sense whatsoever. Summed up the book really for me.
1.75 sneakily spotted ✨
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2007
Didn't even come close to finishing this one. I don't mind a story about a woman in a harem, every once in a while. But the book begins with a man who has a wife and three children, not to mention a woman he keeps tucked away somewhere. Then he finds a portrait of a woman in a store and falls in love with it and decides to go find her. So without a goodbye for his family, he sets off to find his "true love". What the fuck. I can't even begin to like or care about him and if he manages to find "the woman with one blue eye and one yellow eye" who lives in a harem, I guess. The writing isn't that bad, but the story focuses on the man so much that I didn't get much of an idea about where he lived and his travels.
Isabel Allende, one of my favorite authors, provided a kind blurb on the book. It fooled me into thinking perhaps the book would be interesting.
Isabel Allende, one of my favorite authors, provided a kind blurb on the book. It fooled me into thinking perhaps the book would be interesting.
September 24, 2016
رواية مفككة. لا اعرف ان كانت الرواية الأصلية سيئة هكذا ام الترجمة هضمت حقها.
November 15, 2018
رواية بلا مضمون
طريقة السرد والحبكة ضعيفة للغاية
الربط بين الأحداث مفكك
الترجمة عقيمة
وأخيراً إذ كانت هذه هى الرومانسية
فإذا أن أكرها
طريقة السرد والحبكة ضعيفة للغاية
الربط بين الأحداث مفكك
الترجمة عقيمة
وأخيراً إذ كانت هذه هى الرومانسية
فإذا أن أكرها
October 6, 2015
A delightful little book! Told in the spirit of a fairytale for adults, it explores the idea of love beyond the confines of ethics and reality. For some readers the complete disregard for morality can be off-putting, but the story invites contemplation of social conventions and why we so willingly conform.
March 21, 2016
أنصح بها لمن أراد قراءة خفيفه ورقيقه بين قرائتين دسمتين
May 23, 2022
A Croydon library reject sold off in the early 'oo years to me for 30p.!
Penned in 2000 by Istanbul-born woman?, Alev Lytle Croutier, it relates in brief but informative 'chapters' with illustrations and symbols, the story of a wealthy French vintner, Casimir de Chateauneuf, who is enchanted in Paris, by the painted image of a beautiful woman, with one blue, and one yellow eye, and in his dreams he imagines finding her.
The period setting is the 1860s onwards when the restless, unloved Empress Eugenie travels to Constantinople to meet the eccentric Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and finds an intriguing mystery which she seeks to resolve, as Casimir himself finally discovers the object of his affections, a young woman banished to a purgatory by the rules of the sultan and his court, but rescued by her mutual fascination with a mesmerised stranger. The story unfolds in fewer than 183 pages...pages of well-chosen verbal images too.
I read this in two short sessions, comprising perhaps an hour-and-a-half; a very satisfying experience and an escape from the present madness, into a world of past intoxications with new images. We are all vulnerable to a pair of eyes, aren't we?
Penned in 2000 by Istanbul-born woman?, Alev Lytle Croutier, it relates in brief but informative 'chapters' with illustrations and symbols, the story of a wealthy French vintner, Casimir de Chateauneuf, who is enchanted in Paris, by the painted image of a beautiful woman, with one blue, and one yellow eye, and in his dreams he imagines finding her.
The period setting is the 1860s onwards when the restless, unloved Empress Eugenie travels to Constantinople to meet the eccentric Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and finds an intriguing mystery which she seeks to resolve, as Casimir himself finally discovers the object of his affections, a young woman banished to a purgatory by the rules of the sultan and his court, but rescued by her mutual fascination with a mesmerised stranger. The story unfolds in fewer than 183 pages...pages of well-chosen verbal images too.
I read this in two short sessions, comprising perhaps an hour-and-a-half; a very satisfying experience and an escape from the present madness, into a world of past intoxications with new images. We are all vulnerable to a pair of eyes, aren't we?
August 27, 2017
Breve storia ambientata nel 1868 e permeata di romantico fascino orientale.
Sembra quasi di essere in un racconto delle tanto citate Le mille e una notte.
Dalla Francia si viaggia fino ad Istambul, poteva dunque mancare la celebre sultana Nakshidil? Il suo mito rivive grazie al racconto della sua Poupée, la nostra Sherazade.
Eventi e personaggi storici si fondono con quelli inventati e creduti reali. La magia di un incontro predestinato, la realizzazione del kismet dei personaggi, il Reve à deux il particolare incontro fra due persone che s'insinuano nei reciproci sogni, tutti eventi che concorrono a rendere emozionante la storia.
Struggente l'immagine delle donne rinchiuse nel Palazzo delle Lacrime che cantano dolcemente sempre lo stesso ritornello: "Je vous aime. Je vous aime."
Sembra quasi di essere in un racconto delle tanto citate Le mille e una notte.
Dalla Francia si viaggia fino ad Istambul, poteva dunque mancare la celebre sultana Nakshidil? Il suo mito rivive grazie al racconto della sua Poupée, la nostra Sherazade.
Eventi e personaggi storici si fondono con quelli inventati e creduti reali. La magia di un incontro predestinato, la realizzazione del kismet dei personaggi, il Reve à deux il particolare incontro fra due persone che s'insinuano nei reciproci sogni, tutti eventi che concorrono a rendere emozionante la storia.
Struggente l'immagine delle donne rinchiuse nel Palazzo delle Lacrime che cantano dolcemente sempre lo stesso ritornello: "Je vous aime. Je vous aime."
June 6, 2017
مملة ..سرد لكلام زى الحدوتة بتاعت الاطفال ولا يوجد بها اى عمق
September 15, 2013
Great read but you'll need to take the "classic American cinema love story" mentality and shelf it or you'll miss the romantic attitude that each characters story has.
It's the story of a man who learns deep lesson about love and destiny, a women whom life grooms in a dream so she may live in a world that can only be called a dream, two monarchs who seem to be destined to be but have separate destinies but are the rungs in the other characters' climbs to their destiny.
It is so beautifully written and sports lines like:
"We are going to make wine!
What is wine?
The blood of the Gods"
Such efficient and pristine writing.
It's the story of a man who learns deep lesson about love and destiny, a women whom life grooms in a dream so she may live in a world that can only be called a dream, two monarchs who seem to be destined to be but have separate destinies but are the rungs in the other characters' climbs to their destiny.
It is so beautifully written and sports lines like:
"We are going to make wine!
What is wine?
The blood of the Gods"
Such efficient and pristine writing.
January 27, 2012
تحديث: قراءة من عام 2008
--
رواية قصيرة رومانسية هادئة و خفيفة، زمن السلطان عبد العزيز بين جارية شرقية منفية في قصر الدموع (و هو القصر الذي كانت تنفى إليه الحريم اللواتي لم يعد مرغوبا بهن في قصر السلطان) و بين فرنسي غربي... تحدثت عن الحلم الثنائي؟ هل سمعتم به؟ حين يدخل شخص و يستدعي الآخر في أحلامه... هكذا كانت تستسصرخ رجلها... هل يوجد شيء كهذا حقيقة؟ لا أدري...
هذه الرواية رغم تواضعها من ناحية الحبكة و السرد بل و حتى الترجمة و رغم أن البطل لا يستحق البطلة إلا أنها استطاعت رسم ابتسامة سعيدة و جميلة على وجهي
أعشق الروايات ذات النهايات السعيدة
:p
-
--
رواية قصيرة رومانسية هادئة و خفيفة، زمن السلطان عبد العزيز بين جارية شرقية منفية في قصر الدموع (و هو القصر الذي كانت تنفى إليه الحريم اللواتي لم يعد مرغوبا بهن في قصر السلطان) و بين فرنسي غربي... تحدثت عن الحلم الثنائي؟ هل سمعتم به؟ حين يدخل شخص و يستدعي الآخر في أحلامه... هكذا كانت تستسصرخ رجلها... هل يوجد شيء كهذا حقيقة؟ لا أدري...
هذه الرواية رغم تواضعها من ناحية الحبكة و السرد بل و حتى الترجمة و رغم أن البطل لا يستحق البطلة إلا أنها استطاعت رسم ابتسامة سعيدة و جميلة على وجهي
أعشق الروايات ذات النهايات السعيدة
:p
-
January 27, 2012
رواية صغيرة تتحـدّث عن عالم الحريم في القصور الملكيّـة أيّـام الخلافة العثمانيّـة...
ولكن أيّ حريم؟؟؟
طبعاً لسن المحظيّـات المدللات..
ولكنهن النّـساء اللاتي انتهى دورهـنّ مع الملوك، أومن كانت تلعب دور الـدّمية لإحدى الأميرات فلمّـا تكبر تلك الـدّمية أو لم يعد بالأميرة رغبة بها يُلـقى بها في قصر الـدّموع..
أهمّ صفة تميّـزها أنّـها موغلة في الاِستشراق بشكل واضحٍ وصريح..
بدايتها قويّـة جداً ومشـوّقة..
ولكن أرى أنّ الأمور قد خرجت عن تحكّـم الكاتبة فلم تكن التّـتمة وخاصّـة النّـهاية بنفس المستوى والأداء....
ولكن أيّ حريم؟؟؟
طبعاً لسن المحظيّـات المدللات..
ولكنهن النّـساء اللاتي انتهى دورهـنّ مع الملوك، أومن كانت تلعب دور الـدّمية لإحدى الأميرات فلمّـا تكبر تلك الـدّمية أو لم يعد بالأميرة رغبة بها يُلـقى بها في قصر الـدّموع..
أهمّ صفة تميّـزها أنّـها موغلة في الاِستشراق بشكل واضحٍ وصريح..
بدايتها قويّـة جداً ومشـوّقة..
ولكن أرى أنّ الأمور قد خرجت عن تحكّـم الكاتبة فلم تكن التّـتمة وخاصّـة النّـهاية بنفس المستوى والأداء....
July 10, 2012
I honestly almost stopped reading after the first 5 pages. The book is about a successful married man with children and a winery who finds a picture of a beautiful and mysterious woman and chooses to leave his entire life to go in search of this woman in the painting. There isn't any character development and really no plot because after the man finds this woman nothing really needs to happen. There were times when the writing was colorful and interesting but overall everything happened quickly and without reason or sense.
January 13, 2013
I really enjoyed this book - it describes a life that seems so unreal to me, yet exists. So glad I read this.
August 5, 2016
Wow I finished this book in two sittings. I loved it! The book is magically written, good flow and fast read, it definitely took me to another time and place.
April 13, 2021
I do caution that this book explores love found not within the boundaries of monogamy. Thus some readers may not find this book enjoyable. However, this is such a beautifully written book I do hope people give it a chance despite how they may feel personally about this.
It is a quick read. It is an exotic love story. Reading this made me feel as if the author was telling me a story from One Thousand and One Nights. It is a fairytale for adults that takes the reader to a different place and time. I think it was very well written. I will definitely read more from this author in the future.
It is a quick read. It is an exotic love story. Reading this made me feel as if the author was telling me a story from One Thousand and One Nights. It is a fairytale for adults that takes the reader to a different place and time. I think it was very well written. I will definitely read more from this author in the future.
November 23, 2021
As an avid reader, this is by far the most difficult book I've ever read. One page had 22 different names, be it people/places/ships +. Trying to keep track of every needless detail was maddening.
It reads like an over dramatized play summery. More like fleeting snips of a picture rather than a full story.
I kept waiting for something remarkable to happen, but nothing transpired.
The ending was equally as mundane as the rest of the book.
An attempt that fell short in every way.
It reads like an over dramatized play summery. More like fleeting snips of a picture rather than a full story.
I kept waiting for something remarkable to happen, but nothing transpired.
The ending was equally as mundane as the rest of the book.
An attempt that fell short in every way.
December 3, 2022
نبذة:
رواية رومانسية تحكي قصة رجل في الغرب يحلم بإمرأة في الشرق تحلم به بدورها عن طريق ما يسمى بالحلم الثنائي .
رائعة أليف كروتييه تستعرض الأحداث في الفترة التاريخية من حكم السلطان عبد العزيز في تركيا والأمبراطورة أوجيني زوجة نابليون الثالث في فرنسا حيث أضاف طابع الخيال والرومانسية ألق وشاعرية اِستَلهَمَ لها القلب والروح .
رأيي:
رواية جميلة جداً، كُتبت بطريقة مبدعة، أُضيفها لصنف السهل الممتنع.
في الحقيقة لا يوجد الكثير لأضيفه أنها أعجبتني وحسب واتمنى أن تنال أعجابكم كذلك.
رواية رومانسية تحكي قصة رجل في الغرب يحلم بإمرأة في الشرق تحلم به بدورها عن طريق ما يسمى بالحلم الثنائي .
رائعة أليف كروتييه تستعرض الأحداث في الفترة التاريخية من حكم السلطان عبد العزيز في تركيا والأمبراطورة أوجيني زوجة نابليون الثالث في فرنسا حيث أضاف طابع الخيال والرومانسية ألق وشاعرية اِستَلهَمَ لها القلب والروح .
رأيي:
رواية جميلة جداً، كُتبت بطريقة مبدعة، أُضيفها لصنف السهل الممتنع.
في الحقيقة لا يوجد الكثير لأضيفه أنها أعجبتني وحسب واتمنى أن تنال أعجابكم كذلك.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2024
Tengo mis dudas con este libro.
Al principio me costó mucho cogerle el hilo a la historia y la verdad es que se me hizo bastante pesado. Pero le pongo tres estrellas porque a decir verdad, la historia de Ámbar me ha enganchado, no podría explicar muy bien porqué, pero el caso es que lo ha hecho.
A la hora de leer el libro hay que tener en cuenta que es un realismo fantástico, por lo cual hay que concentrarse para poder comprenderlo.
Al principio me costó mucho cogerle el hilo a la historia y la verdad es que se me hizo bastante pesado. Pero le pongo tres estrellas porque a decir verdad, la historia de Ámbar me ha enganchado, no podría explicar muy bien porqué, pero el caso es que lo ha hecho.
A la hora de leer el libro hay que tener en cuenta que es un realismo fantástico, por lo cual hay que concentrarse para poder comprenderlo.
November 2, 2018
كتاب خفيف غير ممل, بدا لي كفيلم رومانسي كلاسيكي
ليس عميق وربما ليس كالروايات الرومانسية عظيمة المعني
لكنه لطيف وصغير, والفتاة الدمية كانت هي محوره
لو كان الكلام عنها اكثر من ذلك, او لو اخذ الجزء الخاص بها حقه
لكانت هذه القصة اصبحت تحفة فنية
لكنه جاء بسيط وغير ممل
ليس عميق وربما ليس كالروايات الرومانسية عظيمة المعني
لكنه لطيف وصغير, والفتاة الدمية كانت هي محوره
لو كان الكلام عنها اكثر من ذلك, او لو اخذ الجزء الخاص بها حقه
لكانت هذه القصة اصبحت تحفة فنية
لكنه جاء بسيط وغير ممل
August 20, 2025
Oryantalizm akımını yansıtan bir kitap. Doğu’nun gizliliği ve sırlarını merak eden Batı’nın insanlarının hikayelerinden biri gibi. Hikaye güzel olsa da, kısa ve çok geliştirilmeden yazıldığı için yavan duruyor, zaten 1 günde bitebilecek, kısa bir roman.
January 23, 2017
Lousy story - dream sequences, bad morals, madness, etc. Brings in Empress Eugenie of France and other historical figures, but weird story. Not recommended!
February 18, 2018
كتاب خفيف سريع، رواية خيالية لا تخلو من بعض المتعة و الكثير من اللاشيء .. لا بأس به
April 8, 2020
رواية مزدحمة، أكثر أحداثها مبني على المصادفة، بداية ونهاية غير مرتبطة .
May 21, 2020
Romantic while ridiculous; beautiful language but awful gender roles. It’s a fairy tale. War saves and longing destroys (sometimes); magic always comes thru.
September 3, 2024
نحن نتألم فقط لأننا إما نشتهي مالا نملكه أو نملك مالانعد نرغب به
June 7, 2025
Een klein boekje die makkelijk te lezen is. Het verhaal is simpel maar leuk geschreven.
February 23, 2017
Good novel for starting readers
July 23, 2018
It is 1868. On a balmy autumn afternoon in Paris, young winemaker Casimir de Châteauneuf wanders into a small shop filled with curiosities from the Orient. There he spies a cache of fine miniature portraits.
Above all others, an ivory-skinned beauty captivates him. Her eyes ... one blue, the other yellow. That night they pursue Casimir in his dreams, as one burning question consumes him: Who is she?
Thus begins Alev Croutier’s lush, stirring adventure of the heart — a mesmerizing tale of forbidden passion, true love, and destiny. For Casimir will forsake his family, his vocation, and his country to find the object of his obsession.
His journey will lead him across desert and sea, from the Royal Court in Paris to a sultan’s palace in Istanbul. And there he will find the woman of his reveries, the woman with one blue eye, the other yellow.
But in this city of passion, in a Palace of Tears, Casimir is about to discover what it will mean to make a dream real ... and what awaits him when his lover is set free.
Above all others, an ivory-skinned beauty captivates him. Her eyes ... one blue, the other yellow. That night they pursue Casimir in his dreams, as one burning question consumes him: Who is she?
Thus begins Alev Croutier’s lush, stirring adventure of the heart — a mesmerizing tale of forbidden passion, true love, and destiny. For Casimir will forsake his family, his vocation, and his country to find the object of his obsession.
His journey will lead him across desert and sea, from the Royal Court in Paris to a sultan’s palace in Istanbul. And there he will find the woman of his reveries, the woman with one blue eye, the other yellow.
But in this city of passion, in a Palace of Tears, Casimir is about to discover what it will mean to make a dream real ... and what awaits him when his lover is set free.
March 21, 2012
Tarzı Alessandro Baricco'nun İpek'ine benzeyen bu romanı yorulmadan okudum. Özellikle sempati duyduğum bir karakter olmadığı gibi kitap boyunca aşkın derinliğini de pek fazla hissetmedim. Kitap kahramanları için herşeylerini, bütün bir hayatlarını geride bırakıp hayallerinin peşinden koşmak ne de kolay! Ve herşey yerlebir olduğunda en baştan başlamak...
"Aşk, yalnızca ıstırap çekenleri avutmak için acıya verilen bir addır. Istırap çekeriz çünkü ya sahip olamadığımızı arzularız ya da artık arzulamadığımızın sahibi olmuşuzdur."
"Aşk, yalnızca ıstırap çekenleri avutmak için acıya verilen bir addır. Istırap çekeriz çünkü ya sahip olamadığımızı arzularız ya da artık arzulamadığımızın sahibi olmuşuzdur."
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