PAMUK’S TASK
Selcuk Gultasli

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 18 2006

First of all, I want to put it on the record that I have followed Orhan
Pamuk with great pleasure and appreciation since the publication of
his "Black Book," and that, asking for the forgiveness of literary
critics, I think he is the greatest author in Turkish literature’s
recent history.

I wholeheartedly congratulate him on winning the Nobel prize for
Literature.

However, the Nobel Prize for Literature having fallen on the same
day as France’s questionable draft law warns us that we have to be
sparing while showing our excitement and joy.

This Nobel award, for which we will always praise our great writer,
couldn’t have come at a worse time.

What should be done now? Can our Nobel author take a role in the
struggle against the injustice made against his own nation this time?

Let whoever wants to boycott do so; but 200l clearly showed that
stupid plans like bringing France to its knees through trade never
work. France has the world’s seventh largest economy, its per capita
income is almost 30 thousand dollars and its economic volume exceeds
2 trillion dollars annually.

Mistakes like trusting that Chirac will call Erdogan and say, "I’m
sorry," expecting him to obstruct the bill, giving compromise after
compromise hoping he will, and buying plenty of Airbuses, shouldn’t
be repeated.

Both of Chirac’s probable successors, right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy and
leftist Segolene Royal have already made recognition of a "genocide"
a condition of Turkey’s EU membership just like the current "friend
of the Turks" president.

OK, let’s say that Chirac doesn’t sign this bill, won’t it be brought
back to life a few years later?

What should be done is to immediately make the bill a law. As soon as
it becomes a law, a serious struggle should be begun on the basis of
freedom of expression. Last week in Europe there were many decisions
indicating that Turkey would win such a struggle started on the basis
of freedom of expression. We can list them as follows:

The EU Commission took a stand against the bill; not only Expansion
Commissioner Olli Rehn, but also at the highest level, Chairman
Barroso.

France’s largest newspapers agreed that the French National Assembly
had acted unreasonably. In general, the European press supported
this stand.

There were official public statements from the European Parliament,
which is constantly giving Turkey a headache regarding the issue of
"genocide," saying, "You’ve made Voltaire turn over in his grave,"
and, "If a law is being made for the Armenian genocide, why aren’t
you doing anything about other injustices?"

Even one of the genocide-accusing members of the EP, French Marie
Anne Isler Beguin, joined in on the protests, "Do you want to throw
Turkey into the lap of Iran and Russia?"

Without losing any time, France’s most expert historians called upon
Chirac to have the bill rescinded if it passes the Senate.

It can be said that an intellectual alliance is emerging throughout
Europe – even though it’s not strong – believing that France has gone
too far this time and exceeded its limits.

If the bill is not buried in France, it is just a matter of time
before it jumps to Belgium, Holland and other countries.

The best thing to do would be to pull the discussion toward a freedom
of expression platform and get the intellectual consensus emerging
in Europe behind us.

Then Orhan Pamuk’s going to Paris with Hrant Dink would be effective.

Pamuk’s going to Paris as a Nobel-winning author from a country that
has abolished or amended article 301 could turn into a visit that
would make France ashamed.

Actually, this is just the right time to amend Article 301!

In an interview with the BBC just after winning the award, Pamuk
did not mention freedom of expression in relation to questions about
France. This does not promise hope.

However, on the day he is to receive the award, if after criticizing
the genocide bill from top to bottom in the speech he makes in Sweden,
if the bill becomes law and he jumps on the first flight to Paris and,
as Hrant Dink promised to do, he proclaims that he doesn’t recognize
the "genocide" (even if he believes it happened), then the coldness
between him and the Turkish people would to a large extent disappear.