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Tour hit by safety fears

Berlin: Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk has cancelled a publicity tour of Germany amid fears for his safety following the murder of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink. Hanser Verlag, Pamuk's German publisher, confirmed that the author had called off a string of book readings in Hamburg, Cologne and Stuttgart. He was also due to receive an honorary degree at Berlin's Free University. Fears for Mr. Pamuk's safety are running high. Last week, Yasin Hayal, the man who police claim has confessed to orchestrating Dink's murder, issued what appeared to be a threat to Pamuk. ``Orhan Pamuk, be smart. Be smart,'' he called out to journalists as he was being taken to an Istanbul courtroom by police. Police are investigating whether his words constitute a threat to the novelist, which could lead to Hayal's prosecution. Both Mr. Pamuk and Dink have been the focus of controversy in Turkey after talking openly about the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century. They have been accused of the crime of ``insulting Turkishness''. Mr. Pamuk is famed for novels such as "Snow" and "My Name is Red", and won the Nobel Literature Prize in 2006. His publisher said that there were no immediate plans to reschedule the trip to Germany, where Mr. Pamuk has a large readership, partly because of the country's sizeable Turkish community. Dink's assassination has prompted outrage at home and abroad. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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