PAMUK OBSERVES IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY IN RECENT YEARS
Turkish Daily News
Oct 13 2005
Diplomacy Newsline
ANK – Turkish Daily News
There is more freedom of speech, as well as certain economic
improvements, encouraged by optimism stemming from the country’s
European Union membership process when compared to the environment
of the country when he was writing his novel “Kar” (Snow), published
in 2002, renowned Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has said.
In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa, Pamuk, however, admitted
that certain problems still remain.
“A horrible discrepancy between the poor and the rich persists.
While Istanbul has been experiencing a kind of explosion, there is
still poverty in eastern parts of Turkey,” Pamuk was quoted as saying
by the Anatolia news agency.
A court case against Pamuk for his February remarks published
in a Swiss newspaper sparked harsh reaction from EU officials and
politicians. When asked about it during the interview, Pamuk declined
to comment on the legal proceedings against him for his remarks on
Armenian and Kurdish deaths some 90 years ago.
“Let’s talk about my books,” he said in the interview titled “Optimist
Defendant Pamuk.”