Agence France Presse
Oct 16 2005
Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk expects acquittal
Sunday, 16 October , 2005, 16:31
Istanbul: Prominent Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk expects to be
acquitted over his controversial remarks about the Armenian
massacres, but has warned that court cases against intellectuals are
damaging Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
“I do not believe my case will result in a conviction, but one cannot
join the EU by making one’s writers suffer at the courts,” Pamuk, 53,
said in an interview with CNN Turk television late on Saturday.
The widely translated author of such internationally renowned works
as My Name Is Red and Snow, Pamuk is set to appear before court on
December 16 on charges of denigrating Turkish national identity by
telling a Swiss newspaper that “one million Armenians and 30,000
Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk
about it”.
He risks a prison term of between six months and three years.
Pamuk’s remarks, which refer to mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire (which many countries have recognised as genocide,
much to Ankara’s ire), still largely a taboo, and the Kurdish
conflict in southeastern Turkey, sparked a public outcry that the
writer is selling out national interests.
Pamuk has said he received several death threats. A provincial
official in western Turkey ordered the seizure and destruction of his
books, but the order was retracted when the EU-wary government
intervened.
“I’m still standing behind my words,” a defiant Pamuk said. “My aim
was to start a little bit of a discussion on this taboo, because this
taboo is an obstacle for our entry into the EU. What I say may not be
true, you may not agree with me, but I have the right to say it.”
Pamuk said he felt disturbed over what he described as attempts by
opponents of Turkey’s EU membership to use the court case against him
for their own political ends.
“I support Turkey’s bid to join the EU… but I cannot tell those
opponents of Turkey ‘It’s none of your business whether they try me
or not’… So I feel stuck in between. This is a burden,” he said.
During a visit to Turkey earlier this month, EU enlargement
commissioner Ollie Rehn lent support to Pamuk by visiting him at his
home in Istanbul and lunching with him in a restaurant at the
Bosphorus.