PAMUK BELIEVED TO BE IN EXILE IN US
Michelle Pauli
The Guardian Unlimited, UK
Feb 14 2007
The Turkish author Orhan Pamuk has reportedly left his home country
to live in America amid fears for his life. The Nobel laureate is
believed to be at risk of assassination in Turkey following the murder
of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink last month. Threats appeared to
have been made against Pamuk by the man who confessed to orchestrating
the murder.
The International Herald Tribune reported on Thursday February 1 that
Pamuk had boarded a plane for New York to begin a lecture tour of
American universities and, according to Fatih Altayli, a prominent
columnist writing for the Turkish daily newspaper Sabah, he has no
plans to return to Turkey. The writer had already cancelled a tour
of Germany, which has a sizeable Turkish community, at the end of
last month.
"What I was told was more than mere rumour: Pamuk recently withdrew
$400,000 from his bank account and said he would leave Turkey and
would not be returning to his country anytime soon," wrote Altayli.
According to the Daily Telegraph, those close to Pamuk have declined
to comment publicly on the report because of the "sensitivity of Mr
Pamuk’s position".
Pamuk’s work, of which the best known are his recent novels My Name
is Red and Snow, explores Turkey as a country poised between east
and west, tradition and modernity. He is the fastest selling author
in Turkish history, as well as commanding international acclaim.
He became a lightning rod for controversy in Turkey after talking
openly about the mass killing of Armenians in the early 20th century,
and is reviled by the country’s nationalists who regard him as
a traitor.
In 2005 he was tried in an Istanbul court for the crime of "insulting
Turkishness" under the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish penal
code, but was acquitted on a technicality a month later. This week,
Turkey’s foreign minister backed calls to amend the article, but not
to repeal it.
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