National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
October 13, 2006 Friday

Not All Turks Admire New Nobel Literature Winner [U]

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been announced in Oslo,
Norway.

Mr. OLE DANBOLT MJØS (Chairman, Norwegian Nobel Committee): The
Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize
for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.

INSKEEP: That’s Ole Danbolt Mjøs, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel
Committee.

Now, the Nobel winner, Muhammad Yunus, is known as the developer of
what’s called microcredit; that’s the extension of small loans to
entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus
and his bank have been a major force in fighting poverty in his
native Bangaledesh, and his ideas have been copied in countries
around the world.

Now, today’s announcement comes after yesterday’s announcement of the
winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and for the first time it
went to a Turkish writer. He’s Orhan Pamuk. He won for his novels
that deal with Turkey’s complex identity.

Yet many Turks seem puzzled if not outright suspicious of this honor.
NPR’s Ivan Watson explains.

IVAN WATSON: In an interview yesterday on NPR, Orhan Pamuk dedicated
his Nobel Prize to the city of his birth.

Mr. ORHAN PAMUK (Author): Istanbul is my city, my kingdom. My stories
are about Istanbul. And I accept this honor, this prize, as a
celebration of my culture, my language, and my town, Istanbul, the
town I come from, the town whose stories I’ve been telling for the
last 30 years.

WATSON: But many residents of Pamuk’s literary kingdom were not happy
with his award.

(Soundbite of street traffic)

WATSON: Jalulu(ph) is Istanbul’s traditional literary quarter.
Publishing houses and bookstores line its winding streets. Many of
them sell Pamuk’s books, but that doesn’t mean people here like the
writer. Book vendor Emra Inaj(ph) describes Pamuk with an English
four-letter word.

Mr. EMRA INAJ (Book Vendor): No, no, no, no. Orhan Pamuk, no. No,
(bleep) Orhan Pamuk.

WATSON: At one of these bookshops yesterday, a writer walked in and
trumpeted the news of Pamuk’s victory.

Unidentified Man #1 (Writer): (foreign language spoken)

WATSON: Gentlemen, he yelled, Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel.

Unidentified Man #2 (Bookseller): (foreign language spoken)

WATSON: Did he win, a bookseller answered sarcastically, or did the
Armenians win?

The store erupted in laughter.

Mr. NERUR ORLU(ph) (Writer): (foreign language spoken)

WATSON: He didn’t earn the prize for his literary achievements, said
a writer here named Nerur Orlu. They gave it to him because of his
political views.

Many here see Orhan Pamuk as a man who won success in the West by
criticizing the country of his birth.

Professor YLTER TURAN (Istanbul Bilgi University): The reason why he
turns out to be such a divisive figure is for the critical remarks he
has rendered about Turkish society, in a sort of heavy-handed way
that is sometimes associated with foreigners looking at Turkey.

WATSON: Ylter Turan is a political science professor at Istanbul
Bilgi University. He says many deeply patriotic Turks have not
forgiven Pamuk for his statement that, quote, "Thirty thousand Kurds
and one million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but
me dares to talk about it."

Turks reject accusations that their ancestors committed genocide
against the Armenians during World War I.

Prof. TURAN: It is deeply offensive because – I mean, Turks don’t
deny that there were significant events – massacres – in which the
Armenians suffered. But what they don’t understand is the lack of
appreciation that it was within the context of a national struggle in
which many Turks were also killed by Armenians cooperating either
with the Russians or later with the French.

WATSON: Pamuk’s publishers say they hope Turks will now see the
author as a source of national pride. That was reflected on the front
pages of Turkish newspapers today, which printed photos of Pamuk’s
smiling face alongside captions like Our Pride and Nobel to a Turk.
But alongside these photos were stories about the French
parliamentary vote to make denial of the Armenian genocide a crime,
coupled with the headlines Shame and Genocide of Thought. The timing
has some Turks muttering about a dark conspiracy against their
country.

In a Jalulu bookshop, an editor named Orgun Orlu(ph) said it was like
getting shot from two directions at once.

Mr. ORGUN ORLU (Editor): You know, at the same time, same day. You
know, shot by both.

WATSON: The Turkish government has condemned the French parliament.
But it extended congratulations to Pamuk for winning the world’s
highest literary prize.

Ivan Watson, NPR News, Istanbul.