The Turkish author Orhan Pamuk has won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature. The giving of the award to Pamuk, who is extremely popular in Turkey, will also be seen by some in his native country as controversial. He has been outspoken in his discussion of the treatment of the Armenians and the Kurds within Turkey. Last he was charged and tried of the offence of "insulting Turkey" for assertions related to killings of members of those two ethnic groups. The trail subsequently collapsed and was halted.
The Turkish nationalist community is likely to consider the honour to be political rather than artistic.
In related news the French assembly has voted to make denial of Turkish genocide re the Armenians a crime. This has already stirred up the Turkish community.
As a strong advocate of free speech I find any laws of this nature silly, repressive and repulsive including those that ban denial of the Nazi holocaust or ban books such as Hitler's Mein Kampf. The idea may seem seductive to many at first but where do you stop? How about banning denial of evolution? Now that is not such a bad idea!
The Turkish nationalist community is likely to consider the honour to be political rather than artistic.
In related news the French assembly has voted to make denial of Turkish genocide re the Armenians a crime. This has already stirred up the Turkish community.
As a strong advocate of free speech I find any laws of this nature silly, repressive and repulsive including those that ban denial of the Nazi holocaust or ban books such as Hitler's Mein Kampf. The idea may seem seductive to many at first but where do you stop? How about banning denial of evolution? Now that is not such a bad idea!
In any case, congratulations are due to Mr. Pamuk.
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