EU backs Turkey over French law | Armenian Directory & News

New York Times
Oct 14 2006

EU backs Turkey over French law
By Sebnem Arsu The New York Times

Published: October 13, 2006

ISTANBUL Senior European Union officials sided with Turkey on Friday
in a growing controversy over legislation in France that would make
it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians in Turkey during
and after World War I constituted genocide.

A statement by José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European
Commission, coincided with satisfaction in Turkey that Orhan Pamuk,
who has been involved in controversy over the Armenia issue, had been
named the first Turkish novelist to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature.

"We don’t think that this decision at this moment is helpful in the
context of the European Union’s relations with Turkey," The
Associated Press quoted Barroso as saying in Helsinki. "This is not
the best way to contribute to something we think is important."

The French National Assembly approved the bill Thursday and it now
moves to the Senate for action. Turkey has denounced the legislation.

The EU commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, also quoted by The
AP, said the bill, "instead of opening up the debate, would rather
close it down, and thus have a negative impact."

"We don’t achieve real dialogue and real reconciliation by
ultimatums, but by dialogue," Rehn continued. "Therefore, this law is
counterproductive."

Many Turkish newspapers, meanwhile, showered Pamuk with praise, but
some also noted the irony that a writer who had faced charges of
"insulting Turkishness" for saying that "one million Armenians were
killed in Turkey" during World War I, was awarded the prize on the
day of the vote in France.

"Pamuk who is given the Nobel Prize, accepts the Armenian genocide,"
said Ozdemir Ince, a critic of the novelist. "Turkey has been put on
sale and Turkish history has been sold in an auction at the lowest
price."

Bulent Arinc, the speaker of Parliament, praised Pamuk but called on
him to help clarify the debate surrounding his prize. "Since he is a
writer, what are his thoughts on the law in France that massacres
freedom of expression?" Arinc asked. "Not only the Turkish society
but the whole world is curious about it."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Pamuk in New York on
Friday to congratulate him. The writer is teaching at Columbia
University for a semester.

Turkey has denied charges that it committed genocide against the
Armenians and asserts that Armenians and Turks alike were killed in
civil unrest during World War I. The issue often results in charges
against intellectuals and writers in court: The genocide claim is
regarded as an insult to Turkish identity and is considered a crime.

Many writers voiced support for Pamuk. "We welcomed his prize with
great joy," Vecdi Sayar, the head of PEN in Turkey, said in Milliyet
newspaper. "Various interpretations are being and will be made but I
think this prize will make serious contributions to Turkish
literature."

Yasar Kemal, another of Turkey’s best-known novelists, who has
himself faced prosecution, congratulated Pamuk. "I trust that you
will continue writing new novels with the same passion. I have no
doubt that you will also stand by what you believe in with full
determination," he said in a message printed in the Turkish press.

Pamuk, in a news conference in New York on Thursday declined to
respond to accusations that his selection was a political decision.

In a statement to the newspaper Radikal, he said: "I consider this
prize as one given to Turkish culture, literature and writers as a
whole. I would like my country to be proud and help me carry it."