The Hindu : Front Page : Literature Nobel for Pamuk

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 13, 2006
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Literature Nobel for Pamuk

Turkish novelist wins prize for works bridging the East-West divide

LAURELS FOR DISSIDENT: Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk at his agent's office in New York on Thursday after being awarded the Nobel literature prize for his works dealing with issues of identity and clashing cultures. — Photo: AP

STOCKHOLM: Novelist Orhan Pamuk, whose prosecution for "insulting Turkishness" raised concerns about suppression of free speech in Turkey, won the Nobel prize for literature on Thursday — for his works that focus on the symbols of clashing cultures.

The Swedish Academy's decision honoured a writer whose attempts to bridge Turkey's past with a future tied to Europe and the West has resulted in trials and condemnations on grounds of "insulting Turkishness."

Pamuk is an incendiary social commentator and the first writer in the Muslim world to condemn a fatwa levelled at Salman Rushdie by Iran. He was roundly supported by the West and writers for taking a stand that ensured that the killing of scores of Armenians during and after the First World War at Turkey's hands was acknowledged.

He was charged last year and faced the threat of prison for telling a Swiss newspaper in February 2005 that his homeland was unwilling to deal with two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during the First World War, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerilla fighting in Turkey's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.

"Thirty-thousand Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it," he said in the interview, a statement he never disavowed. Earlier this year, the charges were dropped.

The controversy came at a particularly sensitive time for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Turkey had recently begun membership talks with the European Union, which has harshly criticised the trial, questioning Turkey's commitment to freedom of expression.

This is the third consecutive year that the Academy has honoured a writer who has criticised his or her home country. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page