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Turkish author Pamuk avoids second court
case
30.12.2005
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ISTANBUL (AFP) - An Istanbul prosecutor has
rejected a demand to launch a second court case
against prominent author Orhan Pamuk over a
newspaper interview in which he questioned the
army's stance towards more democracy in Turkey, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
A nationalist lawyer had asked the prosecutor to
investigate whether Pamuk had breached laws by
"openly degrading the armed forces" in an interview
published in the German daily newspaper Die Welt in
October.
"I do not see the (ruling Justice and Development
Party) AKP as a threat to Turkish democracy.
Unfortunately, the threat is mostly the army which
sometimes impedes democratic development," Pamuk
told Die Welt, according to Turkish newspapers on
Thursday.
The prosecutor in charge of the investigation threw
out the demand, Anatolia said, without giving any
details.
The NTV news channel reported the prosecutor had
judged that the internationally renowned author had
used his right to freedom of expression when he made
those remarks. |
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk
Photo: AFP |
Pamuk's lawyer or officials from the prosecutor's
office were not immediately available for comment.
The 53-year-old Pamuk is already facing prosecution
in another case which began on December 16 following
a complaint from the same nationalist lawyer who was
behind the failed attempt at a second court case.
Pamuk risks up to three years in jail on charges of
"denigrating the Turkish national identity" over his
remarks on the mass killings of Armenians during
World War I made in a Swiss magazine last February.
"One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed
in these lands and nobody but me dares talk about
it," Pamuk told Das Magazin, allegedly breaking a
national taboo.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen
died in orchestrated killings during the final years
of the Ottoman Empire, but Turkey rejects the
figures and denies a genocide took place.
The charges were brought against Pamuk under Article
301 of the country's new penal code which has since
been used as the basis for legal action against
several other Turkish intellectuals and even a
senior member of the European parliament, Joost
Lagendjik.
The article has come under serious criticism both at
home and abroad while the European Union, which
Turkey is seeking to join, has strongly criticised
the recent wave of court cases under the said
article.
AFP
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