Ambrosio Spinola
12-16-2005, 08:58 AM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1935062,00.html
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s best-known novelist, goes on trial today on charges of insulting his country’s national identity.
Pamuk, often mentioned as a Nobel Prize candidate, will be tried for telling a Swiss newspaper in February: "30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it."
Human rights groups have harshly criticised Turkey for trying to prosecute a leading novelist. The case has called into question Turkey's commitment to European standards of free speech as the country bids to become the first Muslim member of the European Union.
Prosecutors have deemed the remark an insult to Turkey, and have charged him under article 301 of the country’s new penal code, which sets penalties for insulting the Turkish Republic and "Turkishness".
Pamuk’s lawyers are expected to argue that the author cannot be tried under the law for insulting Turkishness, which came into force in June, because Pamuk’s comments predate the law by several months.
To many, the case has become a critical test of whether Turkey is prepared to allow open debate on sensitive issues like the massacre of Armenians at the time of World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide.
"What stained a country’s ’honor’ was not the discussion of the black spots in its history but the impossibility of any discussion at all," Pamuk wrote in a letter to The New Yorker magazine to be published in its December 19 issue. The letter also was posted on the magazine’s Web site.
Pamuk, whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages, wrote that he remained optimistic that he would not be imprisoned.
"I believe that the case against me is thin; I do not think I will end up in jail," he wrote.
Turkey has for years come under severe criticism for jailing journalists, authors and activists for speaking their minds. Although the country has carried out reforms to expand freedom of expression as part of its EU-membership drive, loopholes still allow prosecutors and judges to interpret laws in a manner that restricts freedom of speech.
A delegation from the European Parliament is expected to monitor the trial, and the EU official in charge of enlargement, Olli Rehn, said yesterday that "it is not Orhan Pamuk who will stand trial tomorrow, but Turkey."
"Pamuk is a very important writer, we want to make sure that he will not be imprisoned just because of expressing his views," said Camiel Eurlings, an EU legislator from the Netherlands, the Anatolia news agency reported. Eurlings is attending the trial in Istanbul.
Human rights groups and the EU have been pressing Turkey to amend laws to safeguard freedoms.
"Why was this case opened in the first place?" commentator Taha Akyol asked in the Milliyet newspaper.
"Because of insulting Turkishness and the republic. However such cases are causing us to be badly ’insulted’ in the world."
Pamuk’s books include the internationally acclaimed Snow and My Name is Red. He has received numerous literary awards.
Isn´t it beautiful how these EU observers are so alarmed how in Turkey freedom of speech is not guaranteed? Maybe they should look under their own freaking carpet..or better yet...what would David Irwing have to say?
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s best-known novelist, goes on trial today on charges of insulting his country’s national identity.
Pamuk, often mentioned as a Nobel Prize candidate, will be tried for telling a Swiss newspaper in February: "30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it."
Human rights groups have harshly criticised Turkey for trying to prosecute a leading novelist. The case has called into question Turkey's commitment to European standards of free speech as the country bids to become the first Muslim member of the European Union.
Prosecutors have deemed the remark an insult to Turkey, and have charged him under article 301 of the country’s new penal code, which sets penalties for insulting the Turkish Republic and "Turkishness".
Pamuk’s lawyers are expected to argue that the author cannot be tried under the law for insulting Turkishness, which came into force in June, because Pamuk’s comments predate the law by several months.
To many, the case has become a critical test of whether Turkey is prepared to allow open debate on sensitive issues like the massacre of Armenians at the time of World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide.
"What stained a country’s ’honor’ was not the discussion of the black spots in its history but the impossibility of any discussion at all," Pamuk wrote in a letter to The New Yorker magazine to be published in its December 19 issue. The letter also was posted on the magazine’s Web site.
Pamuk, whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages, wrote that he remained optimistic that he would not be imprisoned.
"I believe that the case against me is thin; I do not think I will end up in jail," he wrote.
Turkey has for years come under severe criticism for jailing journalists, authors and activists for speaking their minds. Although the country has carried out reforms to expand freedom of expression as part of its EU-membership drive, loopholes still allow prosecutors and judges to interpret laws in a manner that restricts freedom of speech.
A delegation from the European Parliament is expected to monitor the trial, and the EU official in charge of enlargement, Olli Rehn, said yesterday that "it is not Orhan Pamuk who will stand trial tomorrow, but Turkey."
"Pamuk is a very important writer, we want to make sure that he will not be imprisoned just because of expressing his views," said Camiel Eurlings, an EU legislator from the Netherlands, the Anatolia news agency reported. Eurlings is attending the trial in Istanbul.
Human rights groups and the EU have been pressing Turkey to amend laws to safeguard freedoms.
"Why was this case opened in the first place?" commentator Taha Akyol asked in the Milliyet newspaper.
"Because of insulting Turkishness and the republic. However such cases are causing us to be badly ’insulted’ in the world."
Pamuk’s books include the internationally acclaimed Snow and My Name is Red. He has received numerous literary awards.
Isn´t it beautiful how these EU observers are so alarmed how in Turkey freedom of speech is not guaranteed? Maybe they should look under their own freaking carpet..or better yet...what would David Irwing have to say?