JURIST, University of Pittsburgh
July 28, 2006

Turkish court dismisses civil damages case against novelist
Joshua Pantesco at 1:02 PM ET

[JURIST] A Turkish court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit seeking
compensation from novelist Orhan Pamuk [TIME profile; JURIST news
archive], who was sued by six nationalists after he made allegedly
unfavorable remarks to a Swiss magazine about Turkey’s stance on the
mass killing of Armenians during World War II. The lawsuit demanded
6,000 Turkish Lira (US $4,500) from Pamuk to compensate each
defendant for "insulting, humiliating and making false accusations."

In January, a Turkish court dropped criminal charges against Pamuk
[JURIST report] arising from the same statement. Pamuk was on trial
for "public denigration of the Turkish identity," and the case was
dropped after the Justice Ministry declared that it was legally not
competent to judge whether the case should proceed under the
controversial revised penal code [JURIST report]. Criminal charges
now stand against journalists Hrant Dink and Murat Belge [JURIST
reports] for "insulting Turkishness" by referencing the alleged
Armenian genocide.