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Armenians claim the the killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I was the
first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey vehemently denies an Armenian genocide took
place, saying the death toll is inflated and
Armenians were killed in a civil war as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed, eventually giving way to the
Turkish Republic in 1923.
The "thirty thousand Kurds" mentioned by Pamuk
refers to those killed since 1984 as Turkey fought a
war against armed Kurdish separatists. The fighting
ended in 1999 after a cease-fire was called by the
rebels, but has resumed since then.
Turkey, along with the United States and the
European Union, considers members of the main rebel
group — the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK —
terrorists.
Turkey, which has been trying to improve its human
rights record as it vies for membership in the
European Union, is extremely sensitive about both
the Armenian and Kurdish issues, and the new Turkish
penal code makes it a crime to denigrate Turkey's
national identity.
Pamuk's books include the internationally acclaimed
"Snow" and "My Name is Red" and have been translated
into more than 20 languages.
Pamuk has not shied away from dealing with Turkey's
more controversial historical issues, drawing
criticism for his statements.
AP
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