Month: October 2006

Deutsche Welle, Germany
Oct 13 2006

Pamuk Praised by European Leaders and Contemporaries

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Orhan Panuk’s Nobel
Prize for Literature win was widely praised

European officials and writers reacted with delight to the news on
Thursday that Orhan Pamuk had won the 2006 Nobel Literature prize,
becoming the first Turk to win the coveted award.

Praise was particularly effusive in Turkey itself, where the
political dissident has often clashed with the establishment.

"It is great happiness for us all that a Turkish writer has won such
a prestigious award," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül told reporters at
a joint press conference with his visiting Afghan counterpart Rangin
Dadfar Spanta.

In an apparent reference to the controversies Pamuk has stirred up,
Gul said: "Many day-to-day things are soon forgotten but the fact
that a Turkish writer has won the Nobel award will echo throughout
the world… It is great publicity for Turkey."

"This is a historic day," said Metin Celal, chairman of the Turkish
Publishers’ Union, forecasting that Pamuk’s success would put Turkish
literature firmly on the world map.

Author delighted with prize

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Pamuk was congratulated by the Turkish government
France, Germany and the European Commission also hailed the news,
while Pamuk himself said he was delighted.

"It’s such a great honor, such a great pleasure," Pamuk told
journalists at Columbia University in New York. "I think that this is
first of all an honor bestowed upon the Turkish language, Turkish
culture, Turkey and also recognition of my labors … my humble
devotion to that great art of the novel."

Turkey’s congratulations came despite bad blood between the
establishment and the 54-year-old author, who has challenged official
policies and rejected the accolade of "State Artist".

The timing of the award was ironic.

Just hours before the Swedish Academy announced the award, the French
parliament approved a bill making it an offense punishable by prison
to deny that the Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians
during World War I.

Pamuk himself was put on trial earlier this year for challenging the
official line on the massacres, which Turkey denies were genocide.

Pamuk praised by those who once damned him

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Chirac was said to be delighted for Pamuk
French President Jacques Chirac said he was "delighted" that Pamuk
had won the Nobel Literature prize. Chirac said he was "particularly
delighted" saying Pamuk’s "reflection on society is… intelligent,
strong and liberal".

The case against Pamuk was dropped on a technicality but not before a
provincial official ordered the destruction of Pamuk’s books. Ankara
swiftly stopped the move, wary of undermining its democratic
credentials in European Union eyes.

In Brussels EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called the award a
victory for "artistic freedom and for freedom of expression."

A prize for freedom of speech

"It is good news for all those who want to speak, search, learn the
truth, pursue dialogue, exchange thoughts and knowledge — not just
in Turkey but everywhere else," the Finnish commissioner said.
"Artists … need freedom of expression as desperately as life needs
water and air. Orhan knows more than others how precious and fragile
such freedom is."

Rehn recalled Pamuk telling him during his legal woes he just wanted
to "write books again and free my mind from all this harassment."

Pamuk’s novels, which include "Snow" and "My Name is Red," regularly
tackle Turkey’s decades-old internal struggle between Islam and
secularism.

"In his home country, Pamuk has a reputation as a social commentator
even though he sees himself principally as a fiction writer with no
political agenda," the Nobel jury commented.

"A builder of bridges"

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Steinmeier acknowledged Pamuk’s cultural influence
In Germany, whose 2.5-million-strong Turkish community is the biggest
outside Turkey itself, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
hailed Pamuk as a "builder of bridges.

"He is a symbol for the wish of large parts of Turkish society to
become a part of Europe," said Steinmeier, who supports Turkey’s bid
to join the EU.

Pamuk’s editor in France, Jean Mattern, said the Nobel panel had
rewarded "the quality of his writing and the force of his message.

"His work has always tackled political and historical issues head
on," he told reporters.

Pamuk’s Turkish publisher, Iletisim, was also delighted.

"We are very happy," said academic and Iletisim editor Ahmet Insel.
"Pamuk is an important representative of the modern novel in the
world," he told NTV.

Of the writer’s political views, Insel said: "If we take a look at
the long history of the Nobel Literature Prize, we see that the
authors who won the award have made important political statements on
the future of their countries and the world."

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

Parliament to Hold Special Session on Tuesday
By Cihan News Agency
Friday, October 13, 2006
zaman.com

The Turkish Parliament is set to convene on Tuesday for a special
session to discuss the controversial French bill that makes it a
crime to deny the so-called Armenian genocide.

This will be the first session of the Turkish parliament following
the adoption of the bill on Thursday by the French National Assembly,
the lower house of the French Parliament.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will inform the Turkish lawmakers
regarding the process of the bill. Opposition party leaders are also
expected to deliver speeches about the issue.

A joint declaration of all political parties in the parliament
condemning the French Parliament is planned to be issued following
the debates. A draft text prepared for such a declaration has already
been sent to the parties represented in the parliament.

AsiaNews.it, Italy
Oct 13 2006

Turkey protest: France’s Armenian genocide denial bill leads to calls
for boycott

Turkish government calls action `severe blow’ against relations built
over the centuries; Turkish press calls French MPs `stupid’.

Ankara (AsiaNews) – Reactions in the Turkish press to the French
parliamentary vote making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered
genocide are perhaps stronger than expected. The Turkish government,
despite the popular reaction, responded yesterday with more a
moderate tone, excluding official retaliation.

`Thought Genocide’ titled popular daily Hurryet in a clear reference
to the new law’s denial of free speech. The paper also gave wide
coverage to political reactions, starting with that of Bulent Arinc,
the speaker of the Turkish parliament, who said that it `is a
decision which will cause great embarrassment. It is a stance against
the Turkish people, and we cannot accept this.’

`106 stupid men’ titled another paper, Vatan, referring to the number
of French MPs who voted in favour of the bill. For Milliyet `the
Turkish press is mad at France, whilst Sabah lobbed a meaningful
`J’accuse’ saying that the `French parliament, acting as judge and
jury, took a decision that hurts all Turks’. Finally, Cumhuriyet
reiterated a call to `Boycott’ made by Dervis Gunday, chairman of the
Turkish Traders and Small Businessmen’s Confederation (TESK), French
products.

In the heat of the situation, Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan
also hinted at a possible anti-French boycott saying that `it depends
on the people’. But the Turkish government’s official position was
expressed yesterday by the foreign ministry in Ankara. In a press
release it said: `The long-standing historical relations between
Turkey and France, which have grown through the centuries with great
care, have received a severe blow today because of the irresponsible
attempts – based on groundless claims – of a group of French politicians
who are unable to appreciate the consequences of the policies they
follow.’

If the government is concerned about possible repercussions of the
French decision on Turkey’s application to join the European Union,
the nationalist response in the country to the French bill might also
cause problems to those Turkish intellectuals like Nobel Prize
laureate for literature Orhan Pamuk who have tried to push their
countrymen to face head on the Armenian extermination issue and were
taken to court for it.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 13 2006

Russia may use Air Force to protect its peacekeepers in Georgia
15:52 | 13/ 10/ 2006

MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russia may use its Air Force in
the event of a Georgian attack on Russian peacekeepers stationed in
the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the
Russian Air Force commander said Friday.

Commenting on recent tensions between Russia and Georgia last Sunday,
Sergei Ivanov, the Russian defense minister and a deputy prime
minister, said Russia would not remain indifferent in the event
Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers or citizens, either in South
Ossetia or in Abkhazia.

"If the minister said that we [Russia] would certainly take adequate
measures, than he probably meant the use of air, naval and land
forces," Vladimir Mikhailov said.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia
following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, unleashing bloody
conflicts in the region. Russia mediated ceasefire agreements between
the sides, and Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the
conflict zones ever since.

On Friday, Russia asked the UN Security Council to draft a resolution
on Georgia demanding an extension of the mandate for its peacekeepers
in Abkhazia until April 15, 2007.

Since President Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in Georgia on the
back of the 2003 "Rose Revolution," both the government and
parliament have sought to remove Russian peacekeepers from the
conflict zones of the two self-proclaimed republics, and to force the
withdrawal of Russian troops from two Soviet-era bases that are due
to close in 2008.

Mikhailov also said Russia could also use military transport aviation
for the withdrawal of military hardware and personnel from its two
bases in Georgia.

"If necessary, we will use military transport planes, which could
land in Adler [a Russian city on the Black Sea] or in other airports
to get the job done," Mikhailov said.

Part of the military equipment being removed from Russian bases in
Georgia will be transferred to the Gyumri base when Russia completes
its withdrawal from Akhalkalaki and Batumi by the end of 2008.

The Russian 102nd military base in Gyumri, about 120 kilometers (75
miles) from the Armenian capital Yerevan, is part of a joint air
defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which was
deployed in Armenia in 1995.

Authorities in Georgia charged four Russian officers with spying last
Wednesday, but released them Monday to defuse what was becoming a
mounting crisis. An enraged Moscow responded by suspending all
transportation and mail links with Georgia, while police targeted
illegal immigrants and businesses suspected of maintaining links with
the Georgian criminal underworld.

Open Democracy, UK
Oct 13 2006

Orhan Pamuk’s prize: for Turkey not against it
Anthony Barnett
13 – 10 – 2006

Orhan Pamuk forges a literature for the world from the intimacies of
his Istanbul, and in so doing gives Turkey’s experience universal
stature, says Anthony Barnett.

Orhan Pamuk gets the Nobel prize for literature. Most commentators
will take their cue from the politics of the award, Pamuk being among
the first writers to be put on trial for mentioning the Armenian
massacres of 1915. Others will discuss his novels. I’d like to
reflect on his compelling memoir Istanbul and how it illuminates his
distinction.

It presents itself as an early biographical reflection. It opens with
his strange sense of himself created by deeply feuding parents and
takes the reader through to the loss of his first love and his turn
from painting to writing – all woven through a careful mapping of his
fascination with his native city.

But Istanbul is also a justification for Pamuk’s profound decision to
become a writer who writes in the same family building in which he
grew up.

Ours is the age of migration. To stay or to leave is the question
that dominates adolescence. Often it expands to a choice of country –
or more often the dream of that choice. The pain, necessities and
consequences of migration have become one of the great themes of the
literature of our time. Never more explicitly than in The Satanic
Verses.

Alas, that novel is not famous for its commanding theme and Salman
Rushdie’s insistence on its long history. Should we back Lucretius or
Ovid, he has his characters ask. Do you break from yourself by
leaving the boundaries of your birth, or is moving a vital act of
freedom that leads to the discovery of who you are? To stay, or to
go, and what then happens?

Salman celebrates movement. Without the death of the old how can the
new be born, is his theme. His laureate doubtless awaits the time
when the old ceases to take mass offence at such apostasy.

Orhan Pamuk stayed. But what a way to remain! He reclaims one of the
world’s great cities for itself. His memoir is not an indulgence. It
records the loss of "old Istanbul" with just the right amount of
sentiment. At the same time it replaces its definition, taking it
from the hands of 19th-century literary travellers.

In a neat passage laced with subdued patriotism for Turkish women,
Pamuk gently turns the tables on Edward Said. In his pathbreaking
study Orientalism, Said makes much of Gustave Flaubert and notes
Flaubert’s description of an Egyptian doctor in Cairo ordering his
patients to show off their cases of syphilis to the visiting French
writer. It is presented as a vivid literary moment in the
19th-century projection of the orient as a combination of beastly
revulsion and sexual allure waiting to be "known" by the western
mind.

What a pity, Pamuk writes, that Said did not continue the story to
Istanbul where Flaubert, himself now suffering the genital
disfigurement of syphilis, manages to get into bed with the reluctant
young daughter of a brothel-owner who then, in Italian, demands that
he uncovers himself first so she can make sure he is not contagious.
Faced with humiliation, Flaubert wrote: "I acted the Monsieur and
jumped down from the bed, saying loudly that she was insulting me".

She demanded to see him. She did not have the intellectual authority,
the network of interests or the external power to "define" Flaubert,
who ran away rather than expose himself before Turkish eyes. But the
story tells a lot about what Pamuk is doing with his own learning and
fluency. He reassesses the western painters and writers who "told the
world" about Ottoman Istanbul. He surpasses the Turkish westernisers
who were in thrall to them. Pamuk speaks with a world voice, not a
local or Istanbul one. Neither unduly modest nor overly boastful, he
says "we live here".

To do this he makes much of hüzün, a word broadly translated as
melancholia. For Pamuk this state of feeling, between anguish and
resignation, inhabits the city and its inhabitants, including
himself. He suggests that its origins go back to the decline of the
Ottoman empire followed by its brutal replacement by a Turkey which
in the name of nation-building moved the capital to Ankara, depriving
the ancient heart of empire of its ruling functions.

The Turks I know do indeed share an exceptional, I can only say
civilised, sense of hüzün. Yet I have always found it strange,
because Istanbul fills me with energy and as I got to know it, a
feeling that Europe has a New York, a city of hope.

Orhan Pamuk’s achievement is considerably more than writing some
bestsellers followed by an interview about the massacres of the
Armenians. His Nobel prize is bound to be patronised as further
evidence of the need for solidarity with Turkey’s human-rights
movement, and thus as a sign of Turkish backwardness and its
problems, as if he were a Shirin Ebadi in Iran up against an
overwhelmingly fundamentalist regime.

In fact, he deserves to take the same pedestal as Toni Morrison. Her
government in Washington is undoubtedly parochial and in the hands of
nationalist zealots if not fundamentalists. But her achievement is
not defined by the obvious quality of her opposition to them. She
brought the black experience in America to universal stature. Pamuk
has helped make Turkey a world country, despite the hüzün-inducing
fleabites of rightwing jurists and nationalists. Oh yes, and Europe
should be proud.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Times, UK
Oct 13 2006

Turk who defied official history wins Nobel Prize

From Suna Erdem in Istanbul

ORHAN PAMUK, Turkey’s foremost novelist, who faced trial earlier this
year for comments about the massacres of Armenians in the First World
War, won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday.
Charges of `insulting Turkishness’ brought against Pamuk, 54, were
dropped on a technicality after attracting worldwide attention and
stirring protests that Turkish laws restricted freedom of expression.
The case damaged his country’s aspiration to join the European Union.

He had been favourite to win the prize for a rich body of work that
explores the complexities of identity and clashing cultures in
Turkey, a secular, overwhelmingly Muslim state, that bridges Europe
and Asia.

Intense applause greeted his name when it was announced by Horace
Engdahl, the head of the Swedish Academy.

In a twist that considerably dampened celebrations in Turkey, the
prize was announced on the day that the French Parliament approved a
Bill to make it illegal to deny that the Armenian killings amounted
to genocide. Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, said that his
country would consider retaliatory measures against France. In
Ankara, protesters pelted the French Embassy with eggs.

Mr Engdahl dismissed criticism that politics might have been a factor
in the selection. `I believe that this will be met with delight by
all readers,’ he said. `But it can naturally give rise to a certain
amount of political turbulence. That is not what we are interested
in.’

The Academy said that Pamuk – whose works include My Name is Red, an
historical whodunnit starring Ottoman miniaturists, Black Book,
chronicling a man’s search for his wife through Istanbul, and
Istanbul, an autobiographical portrait of the city – has `discovered
new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures’. It added:
`Pamuk has said that growing up, he experienced a shift from a
traditional Ottoman family environment to a more Western-oriented
lifestyle.’

On winning the Kr10 million (£728,000) prize, Pamuk declined to
answer political questions, but predicted that it would raise the
international profile of Turkish literature. `This will lead the
world to review Turkish culture as a culture of peace,’ he said in
New York.

Pamuk’s win was welcomed in Turkey, with Foreign Ministry officials
and the eminent writer Yasar Kemal offering their congratulations.
But his critics, who concede that Pamuk’s multiple international
awards more than prove the quality of his writing, have said that his
forays outside literature would not have gone unnoticed. `I think you
can say there is more than literature at stake here. Perhaps it’s
always been a mixture between what’s on the printed page and what the
writer stands for politically,’ Ian Jack, the editor of Granta, said.

Ozdemir Ince, the prominent Turkish poet, also said that he believed
Pamuk was honoured because of his politics. `If you ask serious
literature people, they would place Pamuk at the end of the list,’ Mr
Ince said. `Turkish literature did not win the Nobel Prize, Pamuk
did.’

Until last year Pamuk, the Istanbul-born son of a bourgeois family,
had been considered a rather aloof, literary figure. His fanciful,
stylish prose won him acclaim but his acute observations about his
fellow Turks also made enemies.

His trial, for `insulting Turkishness’ followed his assertion that
one million Armenians had been killed in Turkey in 1915, and 30,000
Kurds during an insurgency decades later. Although the case was
dismissed, it caused great embarrassment to Ankara as it tried to
demonstrate to the EU that Turkey is reforming its restrictive laws.

Newsroom Finland, Finland
Oct 13 2006

Rehn criticises France’s Armenian genocide bill

13.10.2006 at 15:00

Olli Rehn, the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, said in a
news conference Friday that the French parliament’s adoption on
Thursday of a bill making it a crime to deny that the killing of
Armenians in 1915-17 by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide was
harmful as it made a historical debate in Turkey more difficult.

Mr Rehn, the Finnish member of the commission, added that the bill,
if approved by the French senate, would probably halt the nascent
debate in Turkey.

Turkey says the killing of 1.5 Armenians was not a genocide.

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

French Parliament’s vote creates shock waves
Friday , 13 October 2006

In France, a cradle of democracy which helped make freedom a
universal value, the French National Parliament yesterday voted to
approve a bill mandating jail time and monetary fines for people
publicly denying the so-called Armenian genocide.

Despite yesterday’s overwhelming vote of approval however, the bill
must pass through the French Senate and then be signed by the French
president before being put into implementation. Also casting an
ambigious shadow overt the parliament’s vote yesterday was the fact
that the French government repeated both before and after the vote
that it did not support the bill in question.

Paris administration underscores its opposition to the bill

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement following the vote
saying that it "wanted very much" to continue dialogue between Paris
and Ankara. Foreign Ministry spokeperson Jean Baptiste Mattei said
"Just as we wish to carry on our strong friendship and our
cooperative ties, we want to continue our dialogue with Turkey."
Spokesperson Mattei also referred to the "genocide denial" bill
approved yesterday as both "unnecessary" and "untimely" in his
statements.

Another voice of opposition against the "genocide denial" bill came
yesterday from European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna, who stood
to address the national assembly prior to its morning vote on the
bill. Said Colonna, "We as the government are opposed to this bill.
As it is, the parliament already voted to officially recognize the
Armenian genocide in 2001. President Jacques Chirac mentioned the
genocide clearly on his visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan. And
looking at things politically, Turkey has already begun work on this
subject, looking back at history, as have other countries. We must
encourage this work. This is why we, as the government, oppose this
bill."

Out of the entire French Parliament, which has 571 seats, a total of
125 MPs participated in yesterday’s vote. Out of these 125 votes, 106
were in support of the bill, with 19 opposing.

Mesrob II: This will only butter the bread of radicals everywhere

Speaking in reaction to news that the French Parliament had passed
the "genocide denial" bill, Patriarch Mesrob II, the leader of the
Armenian Orthodox community in Turkey, issued this warning:

"The French, who have in the past put up serious blockades in front
of Turkey during its quest for EU membership, have now dealt a
serious blow to the already constrained dialogue between Turkey and
Armenia. The law will only butter the bread of both radical Turks and
radical Armenians."

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

`France has Ruined Historical Prestige for Sake of Votes’
By Cihan News Agency
Friday, October 13, 2006
zaman.com

The French Parliament has shown that it is in pursuit of simple
policies and France has ruined all its historical prestige for the
sake of votes, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters
on Thursday afternoon.

Turkish government and NGOs have continued to protest the highly
controversial French bill on the so-called Armenian genocide, which
was passed in the French Parliament on Thursday.

FM Abdullah Gul criticized the adoption of the bill penalizing the
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide. "This will be an
unforgettable shame on France. From now on, France will never be able
to describe itself as a country of freedoms", FM Gul remarked during
a press briefing held following his meeting with visiting Afghan
Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

Gul underlined that the bill struck a heavy blow on Turkish-French
relations and seriously damaged the credibility of France as a
European Union (EU) member which defends freedom of expression.

"The parliament will meet on Tuesday with a special agenda and no
doubt we have measures to take in every field", Gul added, urging
that no one should harbor the conviction that Turkey will handle the
bill lightly.

Gul also assured that Turkey took this as a national issue.
"Certainly our reaction both at the official and public level will be
very big," Gul said implying possible boycotts on French products.

Meanwhile, protesters in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, egged
the French Embassy, and in Istanbul demonstrators marched down
Istiklal Avenue in Beyoglu district, laying a black wreath at the
gates of the French Consulate.

Despite huge reactions and warnings from the Turkish government and
public, the French National Assembly, the lower house of the
Parliament, on Thursday adopted the much-debated bill, which
stipulates up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for
anyone who denies the so-called Armenian genocide during World War I.

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

`Government not to Back Boycott of French Goods’
By Cihan News Agency
Friday, October 13, 2006
zaman.com

Referring to the adoption of a bill penalizing the denial of the so
called Armenian genocide in France, Turkey’s Chief EU Negotiator Ali
Babacan said on Thursday that the government would not encourage a
boycott of French goods; adding that it was up to the Turkish public.

"As the government of Turkey, we are not encouraging something like
that. But the decision is up to the people", he remarked in Brussels
where he has been as part of his Europe tour.

"It will definitely cause some backlash in the Turkish society",
Babacan went on to say, adding that the controversial draft law was
not in line with the core values of the EU.