TURKISH NOVELIST FLEES TO US ‘IN FEAR FOR LIFE’

The Daily Telegraph, UK
Feb 14 2007

The Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk is living in
exile in the United States and is believed to be in fear for his life.

Amid a climate of intimidation that has seen the prosecution and
even murder of dissident intellectuals throwing into doubt Turkey’s
aspiration to the join the European Union, Mr Pamuk, 54, who is living
in New York, is said to have told friends he has set no deadline for
his return. Instead, according to the prominent Istanbul columnist
Fatih Altayli, the writer has quietly gone into exile.

"What I was told was more than mere rumour," said Mr Altayli. "Pamuk
recently withdrew $400,000 from his bank account and said he would
leave Turkey and would not be returning to his country any time soon."

Following the murder of an ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink,
last month, Mr Pamuk expressed fears for his own safety. The writer
enraged Turkish nationalists by acknowledging that under the Ottoman
empire Turks had triggered the genocide of one million Armenians
nearly a century ago.

Such is the sensitivity of Mr Pamuk’s position, his agent and others
close to the novelist have declined invitations to comment publicly
on Mr Altayli’s allegation.

During the 1990s Mr Pamuk, whose novels includes Cevdet Bey and
His Sons and The Black Book, began to write candidly about human
rights issues and free speech in Turkey. The country’s authorities
vociferously campaign against any suggestion that the state has
inherited responsibility for the unacknowledged massacre of Armenians.

In an interview with a Swiss newspaper last year, Mr Pamuk said:
"One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands
but no one but me dares talk about it."

Two weeks ago, Mr Pamuk abruptly cancelled a speaking tour of Germany,
fearing that his engagements would expose him to hostile elements
within the diaspora. Yasin Hayal, a nationalist charged with incitement
to murder Mr Dink, made what appeared to be a threat against Mr Pamuk.

He said: "Orhan Pamuk be careful."

With its candidacy to join the EU already troubled by suspicion of
its Islamic government and the treatment of its Kurdish minority,
Turkey would be dealt a further blow if its most prominent writer
decided he was no longer safe in his homeland.

The damage would be compounded because Mr Pamuk is the foremost
chronicler of Istanbul as the meeting point of Europe and Asia.

In meetings with Western leaders, Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s foreign
minister, has moved to address concerns that the law granted a veneer
of legitimacy to the shadowy figures who were threatening its liberal
intellectuals.

He has promised reforms of an ambiguous law that allows nationalists
to demand punishment for those they accuse of insulting the Turkish
nation.

Mr Gul admitted that Turkey’s standing had been damaged by Mr Dink’s
murder and the threat to Mr Pamuk.

"People outside Turkey think you can be thrown into jail for opening
your mouth," he said.

"They think there are hundreds of journalists and intellectuals in
jail. This is all false."

But he warned that outside pressure for greater tolerance of dissenting
views was counter-productive, strengthening support for nationalist
politicians in the run-up to a general election later this year.