PREGNANT AUTHOR FACES CHARGE OF ‘INSULTING TURKISHNESS’ IN NOVEL

Buffalo News, NY
Sept 10 2006

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Elif Shafak, one of Turkey’s leading authors,
is about to have a baby – and go on trial.

The reason for this strange conjunction of joy and foreboding
is her new novel, which has exposed her to a charge of "insulting
Turkishness" because it touches on one of the most disputed episodes
of her country’s history – the massacres of Armenians during the
final years of the Ottoman Empire.

A University of Arizona literature professor, the 35-year-old Shafak
divides her time between Tucson and Istanbul. She sought a postponement
of her trial, set for Sept. 21, until after her first child is born
but was refused. She could face three years in prison.

The case has broad ramifications, highlighting a rising wave of
Turkish nationalism and the whole question of whether Turkey, a
Western ally and NATO member, should be admitted to the liberal,
democratic European Union – something the Bush administration supports.