Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Greece congratulates Turkish Nobel laureate, extends invitation
Greece on Friday congratulated Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk for
winning this year’s Nobel prize for literature, praising his
“excellent” work and extending an invitation for a visit.
“The award of this top-ranking award constitutes recognition of your
excellent literary work,” Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said
in a letter to the Turkish writer.
“It would be a great joy and an honour to (see you) visit Greece
soon,” she added.
A political dissident whose statements have repeatedly riled the
Turkish establismhment, Pamuk faced prosecution in his home country
last year after telling a Swiss newspaper that 30,000 Kurds and one
million Armenians had been killed during World War I under the
Ottoman Turks.
The Greek parliament in 1996 approved a resolution condemning the
Armenian massacre as genocide.
Turkey counters that 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks,
died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and
sided with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart
during World War I.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Turkish PM decries EU double standards after French genocide vote
The EU is not in a position to “preach” to Turkey on human rights
after France’s move to block free speech with a bill making it a
crime to deny Armenians were victims of genocide, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
“Those who are trying to preach to us should keep their advice for
themselves,” Erdogan said in a televised speech at a road
inauguration ceremony here.
“They should first rectify the backward step they have taken on
freedom of expression and then come to us,” he said.
France’s lower house of parliament infuriated Turkey on Thursday when
it approved a draft law that foresees up to one year in prison and a
fine for anyone who denies that the World War I massacres of
Armenians were genocide.
The bill still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect.
European Union pressure is mounting on Ankara to either scrap or
amend Article 301 of its penal code, which has landed a string of
intellectuals in the courts for “insulting Turkishness.”
Most cases, including one against novelist Orhan Pamuk who was
awarded the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, have resulted from
remarks the defendants made to contest the official line on the
Armenian massacres, which Ankara fiercely rejects amounted to
genocide.
The European Commission, the EU executive arm, also denounced the
French bill, saying that it “would prohibit the debate and the
dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation on the issue.”
Erdogan also advised citizens not to answer the call of several
consumer and business groups to boycott French goods.
“What are we going to earn or lose by boycotting goods?… We should
consider this carefully,” he said.
Erdogan pointed out that the 10 billion dollar (eight billioneuro)
bilateral trade between France and Turkey constituted only about 1.5
percent of France’s overall trade.
“We will act calmly,” he said. “The steps that need to be taken will
be taken by the government on all political platforms at home and
abroad.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had warned ahead of the vote that
French companies would be barred from major economic projects in
Turkey, notably a project to build a nuclear power plant.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Turkish press in half-hearted celebration of Pamuk’s Nobel award
Turkish newspapers were torn Friday between joy at the country’s
first Nobel prize and doubts whether the literature laureate,
novelist Orhan Pamuk, was rewarded for his writing or his political
dissidence that has often embarassed Turkey.
“He is our pride,” trumpeted the liberal daily Radikal on its
front-page, while the mass-selling Milliyet said: “The world honors
Orhan Pamuk.”
Next to the festive headlines were furious banners denouncing a
French bill that would make it a crime to deny Turks committed
genocide against Armenians during World War I.
The draft was voted by the French national assembly Thursday shortly
before Pamuk was named winner of the Nobel prize for literature in
Stockholm.
The massacres, which Ankara denies were genocide, earned Pamuk, 54,
the reputation of a “traitor” among Turkish nationalists and landed
him in court after he questioned in a magazine interview the official
line on this most controversial episode in Turkish history.
“Orhan Pamuk wins the Nobel prize — for what he said or what he
wrote?” the popular Vatan asked, saying his achievement brought
“bittersweet joy” to Turks.
“Undoubtedly, the award is a source of pride for the whole nation…
but the stunts Pamuk performed to win it are not forgotten,” an
editorial in the best-selling Hurriyet newspaper said.
“Unfortunately, Pamuk abided by the rule of the Western world that in
order to win a literary prize, you should go against your country
whether you are right or wrong,” it added.
But many commentators played down the doubts.
“Some people draw the following picture: those who say it was not
genocide go to jail and those who say it was win the Nobel… It is
not that easy,” one columnist wrote in Vatan.
“These heated debates, these stale jokes will soon pass,” he said.
“And what will be taught in schools in 10 years’ time will be that
Orhan Pamuk was the first, and perhaps only, Turkish writer to win
the Nobel Literature Prize.”
The case aghainst Pamuk, in which he risked up to three years in
jail, was dropped on a technicality in January after only one hearing
marred by far-right demonstrators attacking and booing the author.
He first drew the ire of the state in the mid-1990s when he denounced
the treatment of the Kurdish minority as the army waged a
heavy-handed campaign to supress a bloody separatist insurgency in
the southeast.
The state extended an olive branch in 1998, offering him the accolade
of “State Artist,” but Pamuk declined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Nobel prize boosts demand for Pamuk’s books
Orhan Pamuk’s publishers in Turkey said Friday they were receiving a
flood of orders for his books after the 54-year-old dissident author
won the 2006 Nobel Literature Prize.
“In the four hours between the announcement of the Swedish academy
and the end of office hours Thursday, we sent out 6,000 of Pamuk’s
books from our warehouse,” Bahar Siber, an editor at Iletisim
Publishing, told AFP.
Iletisim publishes nine of the 10 books Pamuk has written so far,
including his first novel “Cevdet Bey and His Sons”, and “The Silent
House”, “The White Castle” and “The Black Book”, all of which have
won him awards at home or abroad.
“We have been receiving a lot of orders, mainly from Istanbul and
other major cities, but also quite a few from other parts of the
country,” Siber said, adding that the company’s printing house was
working non-stop to meet the demand.
Yapi Kredi Publishing, which publishes Pamuk’s newest novel
“Istanbul”, said they had also started re-printing the book on
Friday.
“We are getting a lot of orders from major bookstores which appear to
be a measure against failing to satisfy possible customer demand,”
Onur Cici, the head of the sales and marketing department, told AFP.
Pamuk became the first Turkish laureate of the Nobel Literature Prize
Thursday when the Swedish academy chose to honour him for a body of
work that probes the crossroads of Muslim and Western cultures.
He is Turkey’s best-known author at home and abraod but also a
political dissident who has often clashed with the establishment on
sensitive issues such as Ankara’s treatment of its Kurdish community
and the World War I massacres of the Armenians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Barroso criticizes France’s Armenian genocide law
European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said Friday
France’s adoption of a bill making it an offence to deny there was an
Armenian genocide in Turkey, was not helpful.
“We don’t think that this decision at this moment is helpful in the
context of the European Union’s relations with Turkey but we have to
respect all the decisions taken by the parliament of France,” he told
reporters.
“Frankly, we don’t think it’s helpful that a parliament outside takes
a legislative action on a matter of historic interpretation,” he
added.
The French parliament on Thursday approved a bill that would make it
a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians was
genocide.
The crime would carry a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine
of up to 45,000 euros.
However, the European external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero
Waldner said earlier that the measure, which provoked angry reactions
from Ankara, would not affect Turkey’s EU membership bid.
“One thing is what happens in France, (a) second thing is what we are
doing as (the) European Union with a candidate country,” she told
Finnish television.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in a deliberate genocide by Ottoman Turks. Turkey concedes 300,000
Armenians died when the Ottoman Empire fell apart during World War I,
but says large numbers of Turks also died.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
French historians come out against Armenian ‘genocide’ vote
A grouping of French historians on Friday issued a joint statement
condemning a vote by French MPs to adopt a new law which would punish
anybody who denied that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.
The bill, which was adopted by France’s lower house of parliament
Thursday and sent on to the upper house for debate, was “a real
provocation”, the group, calling itself Freedom for History, said.
They said they intended to call on President Jacques Chirac to block
the bill if the upper house also voted in favour.
“So deep is the feeling of solidarity that we have for the victims of
history, we are rising in solemn protest,” they wrote, adding that
the bill represented an “ebb of democratic freedoms”.
The bill envisages a one-year prison term and a fine of up to 45,000
euros (56,000 dollars) on anybody who denies that the Ottomans
committed genocide against the Armenians as their empire fell apart
in World War I.
Turkey, the modern successor to the Ottoman Empire, has reacted with
fury to the bill, and threatened economic reprisals against French
firms.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
First Turkish protest against French ‘genocide’ bill comes in sports
Turkey’s Taekwondo Federation said Friday it would shun an
international tournament in Paris in protest at a French vote to make
it a crime to deny that there was an Armenian genocide in Turkey.
“The French move is nothing but slander against the Turkish people,”
federation chairman Metin Sahin told the Anatolia news agency.
“We have decided not to take part in the international Paris
tournament even though we have received persistent invitations as
both the men’s and women’s European champions,” he added.
Turkey was infuriated when the French National Assembly on Thursday
adopted the bill which stipulates a prison sentence of up to one year
and a fine of up to 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) against those who
deny the Armenian genocide.
The bill still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Students rally in Armenia to support France’s genocide bill
Around 1,000 students rallied in the Armenian capital Friday to thank
the French parliament for backing a bill that would make it a crime
to deny that Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in the
early 20th century.
“Thank You France!” and “Hail French Justice!” read two of the
placards held up by the students from a nationalist youth group, who
waved flags of Armenia and France as they marched through central
Yerevan.
Participants at the rally laid flowers by the French embassy
building.
“With this march we want to express our gratitude to the French
parliament and the French people,” said Aik Asatryan, head of the
Dashnaktsutyun group that organised the march.
“We want to say thank you. Despite threats from Turkey, they were not
afraid and took the right decision,” Asatryan said.
Participants at the rally presented France’s ambassador to Yerevan,
Henry Cuny, with a letter that read: “With this step France has once
again shown its support for defending human rights and freedom of
speech.”
The French parliament on Thursday approved on first reading a bill
that would make it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of
Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.
The bill still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect.
Turkey, which strongly rejects the use of the term genocide in the
sensitive Armenian issue, slammed the vote, saying France had dealt
“a heavy blow” to longstanding bilateral relations.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Turkish army reports shooting incident at Armenian border
Armenian soldiers fired two shots into Turkish territory at the
sealed border between the two troubled neighbors earlier this week,
the Turkish general staff said Friday.
“Soldiers from Armenian border units committed a violation by firing
two shots into Turkish territory,” said a brief statement on the
army’s web site.
It said the incident occurred Wednesday, a day before the lower
chamber of the French parliament voted a bill that would make it a
crime to deny that Ottoman Turks commited genocide against Aremenians
during World War I, a move that infuriated Ankara and won applause in
Yerevan.
“The foreign ministry has been informed about the incident in order
to undertake what is required,” the statement said.
There were no casualties or damage in the incident, it added, without
giving other details.
Turkey has declined to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia over
its campaign for international recognition of the 1915-17 massacres
as genocide.
In 1993, it closed its border with the small Caucasian nation, a move
which was also a gesture of solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan,
which fought a war with Armenia over the disputed enclave of
Nagorny-Karabakh.

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
October 13, 2006 Friday
Not All Turks Admire New Nobel Literature Winner [U]
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been announced in Oslo,
Norway.
Mr. OLE DANBOLT MJØS (Chairman, Norwegian Nobel Committee): The
Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize
for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.
INSKEEP: That’s Ole Danbolt Mjøs, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel
Committee.
Now, the Nobel winner, Muhammad Yunus, is known as the developer of
what’s called microcredit; that’s the extension of small loans to
entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus
and his bank have been a major force in fighting poverty in his
native Bangaledesh, and his ideas have been copied in countries
around the world.
Now, today’s announcement comes after yesterday’s announcement of the
winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and for the first time it
went to a Turkish writer. He’s Orhan Pamuk. He won for his novels
that deal with Turkey’s complex identity.
Yet many Turks seem puzzled if not outright suspicious of this honor.
NPR’s Ivan Watson explains.
IVAN WATSON: In an interview yesterday on NPR, Orhan Pamuk dedicated
his Nobel Prize to the city of his birth.
Mr. ORHAN PAMUK (Author): Istanbul is my city, my kingdom. My stories
are about Istanbul. And I accept this honor, this prize, as a
celebration of my culture, my language, and my town, Istanbul, the
town I come from, the town whose stories I’ve been telling for the
last 30 years.
WATSON: But many residents of Pamuk’s literary kingdom were not happy
with his award.
(Soundbite of street traffic)
WATSON: Jalulu(ph) is Istanbul’s traditional literary quarter.
Publishing houses and bookstores line its winding streets. Many of
them sell Pamuk’s books, but that doesn’t mean people here like the
writer. Book vendor Emra Inaj(ph) describes Pamuk with an English
four-letter word.
Mr. EMRA INAJ (Book Vendor): No, no, no, no. Orhan Pamuk, no. No,
(bleep) Orhan Pamuk.
WATSON: At one of these bookshops yesterday, a writer walked in and
trumpeted the news of Pamuk’s victory.
Unidentified Man #1 (Writer): (foreign language spoken)
WATSON: Gentlemen, he yelled, Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel.
Unidentified Man #2 (Bookseller): (foreign language spoken)
WATSON: Did he win, a bookseller answered sarcastically, or did the
Armenians win?
The store erupted in laughter.
Mr. NERUR ORLU(ph) (Writer): (foreign language spoken)
WATSON: He didn’t earn the prize for his literary achievements, said
a writer here named Nerur Orlu. They gave it to him because of his
political views.
Many here see Orhan Pamuk as a man who won success in the West by
criticizing the country of his birth.
Professor YLTER TURAN (Istanbul Bilgi University): The reason why he
turns out to be such a divisive figure is for the critical remarks he
has rendered about Turkish society, in a sort of heavy-handed way
that is sometimes associated with foreigners looking at Turkey.
WATSON: Ylter Turan is a political science professor at Istanbul
Bilgi University. He says many deeply patriotic Turks have not
forgiven Pamuk for his statement that, quote, “Thirty thousand Kurds
and one million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but
me dares to talk about it.”
Turks reject accusations that their ancestors committed genocide
against the Armenians during World War I.
Prof. TURAN: It is deeply offensive because – I mean, Turks don’t
deny that there were significant events – massacres – in which the
Armenians suffered. But what they don’t understand is the lack of
appreciation that it was within the context of a national struggle in
which many Turks were also killed by Armenians cooperating either
with the Russians or later with the French.
WATSON: Pamuk’s publishers say they hope Turks will now see the
author as a source of national pride. That was reflected on the front
pages of Turkish newspapers today, which printed photos of Pamuk’s
smiling face alongside captions like Our Pride and Nobel to a Turk.
But alongside these photos were stories about the French
parliamentary vote to make denial of the Armenian genocide a crime,
coupled with the headlines Shame and Genocide of Thought. The timing
has some Turks muttering about a dark conspiracy against their
country.
In a Jalulu bookshop, an editor named Orgun Orlu(ph) said it was like
getting shot from two directions at once.
Mr. ORGUN ORLU (Editor): You know, at the same time, same day. You
know, shot by both.
WATSON: The Turkish government has condemned the French parliament.
But it extended congratulations to Pamuk for winning the world’s
highest literary prize.
Ivan Watson, NPR News, Istanbul.