Zaman, Turkey
Oct 14 2006

An Irony of Fate

Friday, October 13, 2006
zaman.com

This is an irony of fate. Orhan Pamuk, who was tried for saying
`30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands,’
was awarded the Nobel literature prize on the same day the Armenian
genocide bill was passed by the French parliament.

These two points are being linked in every comment about the issue.
Pamuk, who gained a considerable number of enemies with his
statement, is bound to hear comments that if somebody curses Turkey
like he did, that person will also get a prize.

A big `Armenian shadow’ will be cast over this prize. In all
likelihood, Pamuk himself is not happy with such a coincidence,
either.

If all these things had not happened, such as Pamuk saying such big
words, the subsequent controversy and the Nobel prize being announced
right after the bill penalizing those who deny the purported Armenian
genocide, we would now be talking about Pamuk’s words, his literary
competence and about the doors this prize would open for Turkish
literature.

However, whether desired or not, his words will follow him like a
shadow and some will regard the Nobel prize as an award for Pamuk’s
words and behaviors that `offended’ Turkey and the Turkish people.

Aside from all these discussions, Orhan Pamuk is Turkey’s most
well-known novelist.

His `opposing’ attitude and `discourse’ certainly play a part in his
worldwide fame.

As a matter of fact, it is no longer an author’s works that make him
famous in today’s world, just as it is not only `literary competence’
that influences the Swedish Academy’s decision who receives the Nobel
prize.

All these will cause endless conflicts in both literary and political
circles.

However, the truth despite all is that Pamuk has been awarded the
Nobel Literature Prize in 2006. It is impossible to deny or ignore
this.

Political conflicts, even crucial social events, may be forgotten
with time but literature has an ability to resist time. Even though
the Nobel Prize always causes controversy and it is claimed to be
given for political reasons, it is the most respectable literature
prize in the world.

None of today’s conflicts will be remembered within a 100 years’ time
but Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist’s name will remain in the list of
the Nobel literature prize.

If we leave all conflicts, praises and criticisms alone, Pamuk’s
Nobel Prize will increase his worldwide fame as well as the interest
in the Turkish literature. It can also be said that Pamuk will serve
as an impulsive force in Turkish literature’s project of opening up
to the outer world.

Ali Colak

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‘The Prize will not Change me and my Works’

Holding a press conference in New York yesterday, Pamuk stated the
prize was given not only to him but also to the Turkish language,
Turkish culture and Turkey and said he was very happy and proud of
this.

Reminding the reporters that this was the first time Turkey was
awarded a Nobel prize, Pamuk said `I am very happy, at least, for
this reason.’

Speaking at the library of Columbia University’s Center on Global
Thought where he teaches as a guest lecturer, Pamuk said he wrote The
Black Book in the small rooms of this university 22 years ago.

`I am happy to receive the news on the prize at the same university,’
Pamuk said, adding the award wouldn’t change him or his work.

Stating he found out the news upon a phone call at midnight, Pamuk
said, `The Swedish Academy of Sciences chairman called me. He said I
was awarded the prize and asked whether I would take it. I said I
would take it. Claims that I would decline it are baseless.’

Emrah Ulker, New York