Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's first Nobel-winning author, told Anadolu Agency ahead of Valentine's Day, the yearly celebration of love set for Friday that "love is only a happy meeting or an encounter; there is also a dark side to love."

The interview was conducted at the pocket-sized Museum of Innocence in Pamuk's native Istanbul, which is modelled around a heart-wrenching 2008 novel penned by him of the same name.

Since he first got the idea in the 1990s, he began collecting objects to put on display in an actual museum.

“The desire to sacrifice oneself, the tendency to see your feelings as the most important thing in the world, the desire for approval and the feelings of inferiority and superiority stand right on the sidelines,” he added.

“Or, most commonly, the legitimisation of much humiliation by pouring love over it,” he explained.

“The upper classes, the bosses, the wealthy even make themselves accepted through love. That's why we admire the hero who values love over money,” Pamuk, 67, likely Turkey's most famous living author, told the agency.

He said that “the Museum of Innocence will forever be open to lovers who can't find another place to kiss in Istanbul,” Pamuk wrote near the end of one of his novel.

Just as Pamuk imagined, his museum has become an attraction for lovers, the agency said.

For Pamuk, it added “love is a feeling that does not need to be reminded. We idealise the lovers and couples as they base their happiness on love. We also want to be like the devoted lovers, couples we dream of. But our story is a little different,” he explained.

“We want to read other love stories to understand our own story. The source of interest in love literature is our own life, our questions, excitements and fears. Does our lover really love us? There are much more devoted heroes in the novels,” Pamuk said, adding “we all need great love stories, whether to console ourselves or understand our love.”

He is optimistic about love in the current age of the Internet, where many find matches by swiping and online services, and flirt or ghost suitors using instant messaging.

“Technology did not kill love,” he said. “I don't believe the expression that the lovers of old were better. The important thing is the depth and genuineness of our feelings.”

“But when emotions are deep and genuine, pain begins as well because life doesn't suit your dreams.”