Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 30, 2005, Wednesday

Investigation ordered into banning of Turkish author’s books

Ankara

The Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into the banning
from sale of one of Turkey’s best known authors in the southwest of
the country, the Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday.

Turkish newspapers on Wednesday were full of fury at the decision to
ban works of Orhan Pamuk from shops and libraries in the Isparta
district of Sutculer.

A sub-governor ordered the ban on February 15 after Pamuk had
reportedly told a Swedish magazine that 30,000 Kurds had been killed
in fighting between security forces and the Kurdish Workers’ Party in
the 1980s and 90s and that one million Armenians had been killed by
Turks during the World War I, both extremely sensitive topics in
Turkey.

It was Pamuk’s comments to the magazine and not the content of his
books that were the reason behind the ban, Radikal newspaper on
Wednesday said.

“Barbarism in Isparta”, read the main headline in Radikal, which said
the governor of Isparta had the ban overturned on Tuesday.

Pamuk’s books include “My Name is Red” and “Snow”, which the New York
Times named one of the top 10 books for 2004. dpa cw ms