Nationalist lawyer loses compensation case against author Pamuk
The New Anatolian / Ankara
July 29 2006
A court on Friday dropped a compensation case against renowned
Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, adding a fresh defeat for complainant
Kemal Kerincsiz, an ultranationalist lawyer seemingly fixed on
fighting any deed or comment contradicting the state’s views.
The case was opened on the grounds that Pamuk accused the Turkish
people of genocide by saying "Thirty thousand Kurds and 1 million
Armenians were killed on these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk
about it" in an interview published by a Swiss newspaper last year.
Kerincsiz and five other nationalists each sought YTL 6,000 in
compensation from Pamuk, accusing him of "insulting, humiliating and
making false accusations." Kerincsiz said after the hearing that
they’ll appeal the decision.
Pamuk also stood trial for the same comment earlier this year on
charges of "denigrating Turkish identity" under controversial Article
301 of the revised Turkish Penal Code (TCK). However that case, which
Kerincsiz also attended as a third party lawyer, was dropped for
technical reasons.
The case was heard amid intense international scrutiny and made the
headlines in both the domestic and foreign media when
ultranationalist groups attacked Pamuk, his supporters and foreign
officials.
Although the official Armenian stance accuses Turkey of killing some
1.5 million of their ancestors in an organized campaign of genocide
during World War I, Turkey denies the state’s involvement but admits
that large numbers of Armenians died of starvation and disease, which
it says is normal in wartime.
