For Selim, this wasn't just a song; it was a time machine. As Ferdi Tayfur’s iconic voice filled the room, the walls of the modern flat seemed to dissolve, replaced by the dusty, sun-drenched streets of Adana in the late 1980s.

He had written a note on the plastic case: "Every word Ferdi sings here is what I’m too afraid to say."

The MP3 ended, and the silence returned, but Selim felt a little less alone.

He remembered the day he first heard it. He was nineteen, working at his father’s tea house. A girl named Leyla, with eyes the color of steeped tea, had walked by every afternoon. One day, he finally worked up the courage to hand her a cassette tape—a mixtape he’d spent all night recording from the radio. The centerpiece was Bende Özledim .