GG Özkan

Fatma Özkan runs the family pharmacy in northern Nicosia with her mother, who founded it, and her aunt, who audits both of them. She counts pills, corrects doctors' handwriting and dispenses advice at a pace her regulars find reassuring rather than rushed. At the board she is already several moves into the second game before she has properly considered how the first one ended, a habit her aunt calls careless and Fatma calls efficient. Backgammon is played upstairs after closing, with the shutters down and the aunts unforgiving. She plays with the same brisk, exact hands she uses behind the counter, every match another small task to complete correctly, and rarely lingers on a result once the next game has already begun.