Turkish author Pamuk calls for Turkey to guarantee human rights

Oct 22, 2005, 16:47 GMT

Frankfurt - Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, 53, called Saturday for human rights and freedom of opinion to be guaranteed in his homeland, where he is to face trial in December over a statement he made in a newspaper interview.

Speaking a day before receiving the German book trade's annual peace prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Pamuk said all people in Turkey ought to be able to express their ideas freely.

The author of historical novels, whose book 'Snow' has been an international best-seller, also repeated his past support for Turkey joining the European Union.

He is to appear in court in Istanbul in December for 'denigrating the country'.

He had told a Swiss newspaper, the Tagesanzeiger, at the start of this year that '30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in Turkey. Almost no one dares speak but me, and the nationalists hate me for that.'

The call was for Turkey to re-examine the events of 1915 which most international historians refer to as a genocide angered nationalists.

'I am endeavouring to take responsibility with my head held high,' said Pamuk on Saturday in a reference to the trial. He said the case had taken on an international dimensions. He had not prompted that, and it embarrassed him.

However he believed that the trial would ultimately serve the struggle for democracy in Turkey, which had to face up to its past.' You have to be able to stare into the mirror,' he said.

Pamuk strongly rejected a contention that he had watered down his criticism of Turkey in connection with the 1915/1916 killings and the Kurdish issue: 'I am defending word for word what I said.'

He said that in a television interview several days ago with CNN- Turk, he had merely made plain that he had never used the term 'genocide'. Asked if massacres or genocide were involved, he said: 'All these discussions must be conducted by scholars.'

He was a mere novelist who described the joys and sorrows of people including those of Armenians, he added.

Pamuk said entry to the E.U. was important to his country because Turkey and Europe had been at war with one another for centuries.

If Turkey fulfilled the conditions set by the European Union, its culture could enrich Europe.

'I desire with all my heart that Turkey becomes a part of the European Union,' Pamuk said.

The peace prize he is to receive Sunday is worth 25,000 euros (30,000 dollars) and was created by the Boersenverein, the association of German publishers and booksellers.

He was named winner of Germany's top award to authors for his efforts to reconcile Islamic Turkey and modern Europe.

The prize is awarded in a Frankfurt public monument, the Paulskirche, on the last day of each book fair.

The world's biggest book show was attended this year by 7,223 firms from 101 nations.