KARABAKH LIBERATION ORGANIZATION ACCUSES LAW-DEFENDERS OF BEING INDIFFERENCE TOWARDS DESTINY OF KARABAKH PARTISANS
Author: S.Ilhamgizi
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006
Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) expressed its protest against
several law-defenders in relation with the absence of the names of
the Karabakh partisans in the list of political prisoners submitted
to the Council of Europe, Trend reports with reference to the KLO.
It should be mentioned that a number of young people had formed
an armed team to protest against the occupation of the Azerbaijani
territories by Armenian Armed Forces. One of them has been sentenced
to the prison for term of life and other from 5 to 14 years.
KLO considers that the court has passed an unfair resolution. In
addition, during the investigation, the court procedures have been
repeatedly violated.
It was mentioned in the KLO resolution that each of these arguments
is enough to include them into the list of the political prisoners.
“But the position of several law-defenders coincides with the unfair
decision of the court. We demand these law-defenders to change their
position,” was stated in the resolution.

TURKEY HELD A PROTEST AGAINST FRANCE’S PARLIAMENT’S PASSING A BILL CONCERNING SO-CALLED ARMENIAN “GENOCIDE”
Author: E. Husseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006
Today, on November 4, an action of protest against the French
Paliament’s passing a bill concerning the so-called Armenian
“genocide”, that envisages a criminal responsibility for a denial of
the so-called “genocide”, Trend Special Correspondent to Igdir reports.
The action was organized by the Municipality of the Turkish Village
of Igdir on the Turkish border with Armenia. Nurettin Araz, Head
of the Municipality, addressing the arrangement, stated that such
decisions as the one made by the French Parliament is aimed “to drive
Turkey into the corner” by means of the Armenian issue. Mr. Aras said
that in the issue of Turkish membership in EU, “there are people who
sincerely wants Turkey’s joining EU, who realizes its importance to
Europe, and on the contrary, there are those who are scared from
Muslim Turkey, who say “we are the Christian club, and there are
no place for Turkey in it”. Mr. Aras asked a question, what France,
which is considered to be the address of independence, which itself
have committed massive massacres for centuries, will gain from it?
He also pointed out that according to the research conducted by
American, English, and Russian experts, Armenians themselves have
killed over 2.5 mln. Turks for the last century. “They killed hundreds
of thousands of Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan. On March 31, 1918, they
killed more than 10,000 Azerbaijanis just in one day”, he stressed. The
participants of the protest scanned: “Real genocide was in Khojali”,
“Why France does not acknowledge Khojali Massacre?!”, etc.
Notably, the arrangement was held in village Khakhmed, where in 1919,
Armenian forces buried dozens of Turks alive. As a result 51 bodies
were found. In this location a memorial was raised in 1995.

RAJAB TAYYIP ERDOGAN: I OPENLY SEND A CHALLENGE TO KOCHARYAN; IF HE IS COURAGEOUS ENOUGH LET HIM MAKE ARCHIVES AVAILABLE
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006
“If Kocharyan is courageous enough let him make Armenian archives
available. Let the specialists analyze them and find out truth.
Turkey makes available his archives to anyone, but Armenia refuses
to do it,” Rajab Tayyip Erdogan answered the question of Armenian
journalist Greghan Manukyan in the News Xchange-2006 conference, APA
Turkey bureau reports. 155 media groups and over 500 journalists from
55 countries took part in the conference. Armenian journalist said that
Armenian s played a great role in the formation of Istanbul culture,
but thousands of our compatriots were killed there in 1914.
His statement made the minister angry.
“I openly send a challenge to Kocharyan. If he is self-confident, let
him open Armenian archives to anyone. I have copies of Ottoman pashas’
aids to Armenian hospitals in my office. Armenians living in Turkey
have no problem; the only problem is Armenian Diaspora,” he said.
The minister also answered the questions about the meeting with Pope
Benedict XVI Erdogan said that he will be in the meeting of NATO
member states’ ministers in Poland at that time.
“Our President and Re3ligious Affairs Minister will meet the Pope,”
the minister said.

US EMBASSY : TRAFFICKING PROBLEM IN ARMENIA REQUIRES RESOLVING
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006
(ARKA) -The problem of trafficking in Armenia requires resolving,
Anthony Godfry, Deputy Head of Mission, US Embassy in Armenia,
stated at his meeting with Chairperson of the Standing Parliamentary
Commission for Science, Education, Culture and Youth Affairs Hranush
Hakobyan. He pointed out that struggle against trafficking has become
one of the most important tasks of various countries and international
organizations, reports Trend.
Although the RA Government is ready to elaborate a new national
program of trafficking control, but no decisive steps have yet been
made because necessary funds have not been allocated form the state
budget. Godfry stated that the USA is concerned with the problem being
resolved, and if funds are allocated from Armenia’s state budget,
the USA and the UNDP are ready to render active financial assistance.
In her turn, Granush Hakobyan pointed out the necessity of eradicating
trafficking as a vicious phenomenon. “The national program of
trafficking control must be consistently implemented.
Armenia should accede to relevant international agreements,
harmonize its legislation and establish close ties with international
organizations,” she said.
Hakobyan expressed her readiness to contribute to the resolution of
financial problems by applying to the RA Government.
The sides reached an arrangement about long-lasting cooperation
and activities for implementation of Armenia’s national program of
trafficking control.

KAMALADDIN HEYDAROV HAS ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS IN MOROCCO
Today, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006
11th Ministerial Session of the European and Mediterranian major
hazards areement took place in Morocco October 30-31.
The main aim of the ministerial meeting was to obtain political support
for disaster reduction as a central element of sustainable development
and to define priorities for the five coming years 2007-2011 which
will guide the work of the Partial Agreement.
The meeting was attended by representatives of some 30 states, PACE,
UN commissions and some 10 international organizations. Azerbaijan was
represented by Azerbaijani emergencies minister Kamaladdin Heydarov.
As APA reports, Mr. Heydarov spoke on sociopolitical situation and
achievements in Azerbaijan, saying Azerbaijan has become a leading
country of the region thanks to the far-sighted policy of national
leader Heydar Aliyev, and this policy is successfully being pursued
by President Ilham Aliyev at present. He also stated that Azerbaijan
is a leading state in the world because of its economic growth rate.
“Azerbaijan is located in seismically active zone and the development
of risky oil and gas pipelines, refineries, chemical industry and
other achievements made necessary the establishment of this ministry
in Azerbaijan,” he said.
He also said that Azerbaijan is cooperating with Russian, French,
Ukrainian, Turkish and other states’ relevant bodies.
Mr. Heydarov also touched Nagorno Karabakh conflict, saying aggressor
Armenia has occupied 20% of Azeri lands, displaced over 1m people and
commit arsons in the occupied lands. Despite objections of Armenia
side, the information on the truth of Azerbaijan was welcomed by
the participators.
Mr. Heydarov also meet with Mohamed El Yazghi, Moroccan Minister of
Territorial Development, Water and the Environment, Rumanian Public
Affairs and Territorial planning deputy minister Laslo Borbeli,
Turkish public affairs and settling minister Faruk Hafiz Ozak,
Bulgarian Natural Disasters and man-caused emergency disasters minister
Angel Chakarov.
URL:

YURI MERZLYAKOV: “WE HOPE AFTER NEGOTIATIONS IN BRUSSELS FMS WILL RECOMMEND THEIR PRESIDENTS TO HOLD MEETING”
Today, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006
“Azerbaijan and Armenia haven’t replied our suggestion about
presidents’ next meeting yet,” Yuri Merzlyakov, OSCE Minsk Group
Russian co-chair, stated.
Asked if the agreement can be reached during Azerbaijan and Armenian
Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan’s meeting to be
held in Brussels November 14, Merzlyakov said that the Ministers are
not able to make decision, they can only recommend their presidents
to hold meeting.
Asked if the sides made any amendments to the proposals put forward
by the co-rapporteurs in September, the Russian co-chair said that
said that two rounds of talks have been held since that time.
“Some amendments were made during the talks in Moscow and Paris.”
Asked if the settlement will be started in case presidents agree to
the main principles, he said that after the principles are agreed
the preparation of the framework will begin.
“The realization of the principles should be presented in details
in the document. We can not expect the principles to be realized as
soon as they are agreed upon. For instance, the problem of withdrawal
of troops from occupied territories …This is the principle but
the questions “When”,”In what direction”,”How” should be reflected
in the document. Or for instance keeping peace. “How”, “By whom”,
“The duration period” all these details should be included in the
document. And this can not be formed in a short time.”
The Russian diplomat noted that co-chairs approve the Azerbaijan and
Armenian Foreign Ministers’ meeting held October 20, APA reports.
“The beginning of the meeting was held with Andrzej Kasprzyk’s
participation, later the Ministers held private negotiations,” the
diplomat said.
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PROPOSAL AIMED AT DISPOSAL
Burbank Leader, CA
Nov 4 2006
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved Michael
Antonovich’s motion to direct county staffers to pursue the possibility
of expanding a pharmaceutical disposal program to the entire county.
The “No Drugs Down the Drain” program informs residents about the
hazards of throwing away medications in places where they can reach
surface waters and negatively affect the environment. Research has
shown that medications in surface waters complicates human growth
and reproduction.
The program encourages county residents to either dispose of medicine
waste at hazardous-waste collection centers or seal them in sturdy
plastic containers before putting them in trash cans.
Group inaugurates new headquarters
The Armenian National Committee of America – a national advocacy
organization that promotes the role of Armenian Americans in U.S.
policy – has inaugurated a new national headquarters in Washington,
D.C. advertisement
Armenian-American dignitaries and religious leaders from throughout
the country joined Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian for
the inauguration on Oct. 21.
Oskanian stressed the importance of cooperation between Armenians
in the states and the Armenian government in working on issues of
economic and democratic development in Armenia, and in strengthening
the relationship between the United States and Armenia.
Schiff to speak on Darfur genocide
Rep. Adam Schiff held a Town Hall meeting to discuss the genocide in
the Darfur region of Sudan Friday at Alhambra High School.
Schiff, whose district covers Burbank and Glendale, has held previous
meetings on this topic in Glendale and Pasadena and sponsored
legislation to help get funds for victims.
Among those joining Schiff at the meeting were Mabior Isaac Amol,
a former Sudan resident who helped start an orphanage in Darfur,
and Father Vazken Movsesian, of In His Shoes Ministries in Glendale,
which is raising money to provide aid to the people of Darfur.
Campaign kick-off in Glendale council race
More than 200 people showed up at Oakmont Country Club on Oct. 26
to watch Glendale Unified School District Trustee Greg Krikorian
officially kick off his campaign for City Council.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich spoke at the event.
Other dignitaries attending included former Glendale Mayor Larry
Zarian, Burbank City Councilwoman Marsha Ramos and Glendale City
Council Bob Yousefian. Crescenta Valley Town Council members Steve
Pierce, Sharon Hales, Krista Smiley and Charles Beatty also attended.
Krikorian’s goals include getting the city to stick to its hillside
ordinance more closely.
The election is April 3.
Montrose Shopping Park Assn. President John Drayman has also officially
announced he will run for a spot on the council.

VIOLIN COMPETITION MEDALIST JOINS INDIANAPOLIS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA AT NOVEMBER 10 DEPAUW CONCERT
DePauw University, Indiana
Nov 4 2006
November 4, 2006, Greencastle, Ind. – “Violin Virtuosity” is the theme
of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra’s (ICO) performance at DePauw
University on November 10, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium. The
first of two ICO concerts at DePauw this academic year, this concert
will feature violinist Ida Kavafian, the 1982 Silver Medalist at the
International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Ms. Kavafian and
the ICO will be under the direction of guest conductor Raymond Harvey
of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.
Featured on the program is Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Iphigenie
in Aulis, Romance for Violin and Orchestra by Antonín Dvoøak, famous
for his “New World Symphony,” and the rarely heard Violin Concerto
No. 8 in A minor by 19th century composer Louis Spohr. Spohr, a
violinist himself, is said to have invented the violin chin rest. The
concert will conclude with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, the
first Schumann symphony performed by the ICO in its 22-year history.
Known for her remarkable versatility and breathtaking virtuosity, Ida
Kavafian has appeared on stages and in performance venues throughout
North America, the Far East and Europe. Born in Istanbul, Turkey,
of Armenian descent, Ms. Kavafian immigrated with her family to the
United States when she was three years old. Her studies began at
the age of six with Ara Zerounian, continued with Mischa Mischakoff,
and culminated when she earned her Master of Music degree with honors
from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Oscar Shumsky.
In 1982, Ms. Kavafian won the silver medal at the prestigious
International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She has premiered
new works around the world, founded or participated in many celebrated
chamber music ensembles, received countless prestigious awards and
been active in guiding major music festivals. She is on the faculty
of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Bard College
Conservatory of Music in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Ms. Kavafian has also appeared on CBS’ Sunday Morning and NBC’s Today
Show and is an artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Guest conductor Raymond Harvey comes to DePauw from Kalamazoo where he
is the music director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. In February
2001, Mr. Harvey served as a guest conductor for the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra in a concert entitled “Celebration of Black
History.” He also serves as the music director of the El Paso Opera
in Texas and has been recognized as an outstanding pianist, choral
conductor and teacher. Harvey holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees
from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts
degree from the Yale School of Music. He has been featured in Ebony
and Symphony magazines and is profiled in the book, Black Conductors,
by Antoinette Handy.
–Boundary_(ID_s3rRrGbJljX8WklQK7OxQA)–

PAMUK: A GREAT WRITER, A WORTHY NOBEL LAUREATE
Roy Voragen, Bandung
Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Nov 4 2006
Orhan Pamuk deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature; his books make
him a worthy laureate. But it is unfortunate that his success is now
being politicized.
Matt Moore and Karl Ritter wrote in The Jakarta Post (Oct. 13):
“With its selection, the Swedish academy stepped squarely into the
global clash of civilizations, honoring a Western-leaning Muslim whose
country lies on the strategic fault line between east and west and
whose people are increasingly unhappy with Europeans’ reluctance to
accept them as full members in the European Union.”
Did Moore and Ritter take the effort to read any of Pamuk’s
brilliantly constructed books? From their article it does not seem
so. Why didn’t they write about the themes and literary qualities of
Pamuk’s books? Now it seems he is being condemned because he is not
Turkish enough (i.e. he is not a good Muslim, not a good Oriental).
Is Orhan Pamuk a European because he admires Dostoyevski? If one reads
a book written by Pamuk one will see that he does not choose between
east or west, between secularism or religion, between modernity or
tradition. Pamuk takes a close look at his surroundings and tries
to make sense of them by constructing a narrative with many layers
and voices.
As Margaret Atwood wrote in a review for The New York Review of Books
(Aug. 15, 2004): “Stories, Pamuk has hinted, create the world we
perceive: Instead of ‘I think, therefore I am’, a Pamuk character
might say, ‘I am because I narrate'”.
Pamuk wants to show us that our world is not a black-and-white world,
and if we picture it as black and white, not only will it not make
sense to us but it can also become a rather unlivable place.
Pamuk is Dostoyevskian in the sense that he tries to go beyond simple
representations, his narrations are inhabited by subjects like the
honest thief, the tender murderer and the superstitious atheist;
people are never just this or that, they are both and neither.
In response to the bloody situation in Iraq, Pamuk says in an interview
with Alexander Star (The New York Times, Aug. 15, 2004): “In my books
I have always looked for a sort of harmony between the so-called east
and west. In short, what I wrote in my books for years was misquoted,
and used as a sort of apology for what had been done.
And what had been done was a cruel thing.”
And in response to 9/11 he writes (The New York Review of Books, Nov.
15, 2001):”I am afraid that self-satisfied and self-righteous Western
nationalism will drive the rest of the world into defiantly contending
that two plus two equals five, like Dostoyevski’s underground man,
when he reacts against the ‘reasonable’ Western world.
“Nothing can fuel support for an ‘Islamist’ who throws nitric acid at
women’s faces so much as the West’s failure to understand the damned
of the world”.
Pamuk’s position is subtle, for example his novel Now carries an
epigraph from Dostoyevski’s novel The Brothers Karamazov: “Well,
then, eliminate the people, curtail them, force them to be silent.
Because the European enlightenment is more important than people.”
This quote not only criticizes Turkey’s top-down modernization since
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), it also criticizes the way many
Europeans, for example the Somali-Dutch Ayaan Hirsi Ali, treat Muslims:
Modernization as such is more important than the lives of ordinary
people, but what is liberty without a life? Enlightenment cannot be
enforced, that is illiberal.
Pamuk infuriates Islamists and nationalists alike. Orhan Pamuk is
critical of Islamism, because it stifles freedom of thinking and
expression. Pamuk was also one of the first to speak up against the
Ayatollah Khomeini fatwa which ordered the murder of Salman Rushdie,
who was accused of blasphemy after publishing The Satanic Verses.
Pamuk was also recently one of the co-writers of an open letter to
the Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, urging the release of scholar and
public intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo, who is being held for having
contacts with foreigners.
Pamuk is also critical of nationalists and for the same reasons. He
gave an interview to the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger (Feb. 6, 2005)
in which he said that “thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians
were killed”. Pamuk is referring to the killings by Ottoman Empire
forces of Armenians during World War I.
Turkey does not deny the deaths, but denies that it was genocide,
i.e. according to a premeditated plan. Pamuk’s reference to 30,000
Kurdish deaths refers to those killed during the past two decades
in the conflict between Turkish forces and Kurdish separatists. In
Turkey, debate about this issue is stifled by stringent laws; therefore
Turkish history and identity are frozen.
Turkey should become a full member of the European Union soon, says
Pamuk. This must be possible because Turkey has long been a member
of NATO. It must be possible if the European Union stands for humanism.
But it becomes impossible if Europeans, out of fear of globalization,
deep-freeze an European identity as, for example, Christian.
But once again, Pamuk is no politician, nor is he an activist, he is
foremost a luminous artist. His books enlighten us on the difficulty of
forming an essential identity, to be someone; we are like the countries
we inhabit, i.e. complex and difficult to read. And Pamuk’s novel The
Black Book shows that to make sense of the world and ourselves the
reader has to become a writer. The clash of civilizations is simply
not an interesting narrative, it is far too colorless, and it is
about time to change that record.
The writer teaches philosophy at Parahyangan Catholic University,
Bandung, West Java, and can be contacted at [email protected]. .com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20061104.E02&i rec=1

AGAINST SILENCE
Shelley Walia
The Hindu, India
Nov 5 2006
With Orhan Pamuk, the site of his creativity is also the location of
political protest.
LIKE a true postmodernist rebel, Orhan Pamuk, sits in his flat in the
majestic beauty of his Istanbul, a city known for its amalgamation
of East and West, poised on the crossroads of Asia and Europe. He
represents the interface between cultures, a diasporic persona in a
rigid Islamic society struggling with the pangs of shedding its dark
Ottoman past
Orhan Pamuk, infamous for his trial on account of his criticism
of the Armenian genocide, and now acquitted of criminal charges
of denigrating his country where it is taboo to speak against the
State, recently won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature for both the
undeniably high quality of his artistic achievement as well as his
awareness of the threat of terror and State injustice. Pamuk explains
that a mere desire to discuss Turkish politics spurred the State to
declare him anti-nationalist. In his trial he claimed that he loved
his country and would never do anything to insult it. “But what if
it is wrong?” he said. “Right or wrong, do people not have the right
to express their ideas peacefully?”
Lack of understanding
Pamuk does not find it necessary to put the blame squarely on Islam
for the crisis in his life: “It is neither Islam nor even poverty
itself that directly engenders support for terrorists whose ferocity
and ingenuity are unprecedented in human history; it is, rather, the
crushing humiliation that has infected Third World countries. And
for this the West has to be held responsible because it has failed
to comprehend the shame and the humiliation that has fallen upon the
poor nations. Hot-headed military operations and wars will only take
us away from the order of peace.”
However, to say that Pamuk’s involvement with contemporary politics
is the reason behind the Nobel Prize is to ignore the literary value
and the throbbing romantic energy of his creative work As he says
in a recent interview, “Look, I’m a writer. I try to focus on these
issues not from the point of view of a statesman but from the point
of view of a person who tries to understand the pain and suffering
of others… I think literature can approach these problems because
you can go into more shady areas, areas where no one is right and
no one has the right to say what is right. That’s what makes writing
novels interesting. It’s what makes writing a political novel today
interesting.”
Pamuk has spoken again. And this time against the French government
which issued an Act of Parliament that would consider any denial of
the massacre of the Kurds and Armenians as unlawful. This, according
to Pamuk, is an infringement of the fundamental right to freedom of
speech: “The French tradition of critical thinking influenced and
taught me a lot,” he said. “This decision, however, is a prohibition
and didn’t suit
the libertarian nature of the French tradition.”
Facing the past
He has, throughout his writing career, endeavoured to break the culture
of silence and oppression in his country, revoking the genocidal
record of Turkish history and the State’s assault on constitutional
freedom. For Pamuk, politics based on reason is essential for
challenging the status quo. Protest for him is intrinsic to civil
society; we live in a world that is constantly changing, and it is
by protest that the laws are changed.
The nature and function of a writer like Pamuk can be debated only if
his critical politics are related to his function and his position
in society. All radical work for the transformation of society so
as to put an end to oppression has to be carried on at the site of
his creative activity. Politics, as is often thought, does not only
operate in Pamuk’s writings, but is central to his larger concerns.
He has always stepped beyond the private, academic, or technical
terms to the “public sphere”, and to the sphere of the citizen rather
than that of the narrow specialist. It is here that his intervention
becomes as political inside his creative work as real politics is
outside. As Vaclav Havel writes, “You do not become a `dissident’
just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career.
You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility,
combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast
out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict
with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends
with being branded an enemy of society.” Such a form of commitment to
oneself, to memory and to humanity is visible in Pamuk’s novels and
his ideology that makes him the much-needed bridge between the West
and the East, between an ancient Islamic culture and the contemporary
dream of an economically prosperous nation.
Spaces of imagination
His sensational novel The Black Book concerns itself with the history
of Turkey and takes up the polemics on the idea of a nation and
Turkey’s identity within the context of its imperial past. Like The
White Castle, which was translated into English in 1985, My Name is
Red and Snow also juxtapose tradition and modernity, continuity and
change in a style that blends mystery, romance, and philosophical
puzzles with the tension between East and West, the encounters
between Europe and the turbulent Ottoman Empire, and the inherent
European aspiration of a Muslim nation: “A Turkish novelist who
fails to imagine the Kurds and other minorities, and who neglects to
illuminate the black spots in his country’s unspoken history, will,
in my view, produce work that has a hole in its centre.”
Pamuk stresses that “the history of the novel is the history of
human liberation: by putting ourselves in other’s shoes, by using our
imagination to free ourselves from our own identities, we are able to
set ourselves free.” He, therefore, has always tried to transcend the
political with all its inherent connections with religious and the
cultural histories of the land, and reach out to the more artistic
and aesthetic aspects of his existence. But that is not to say that
the political is ever absent. This aspect of his writings is evident
from his explanation: “But later, as I began to get known both inside
and outside of Turkey, people began to ask political questions and
demand political commentaries. Which I did because I sincerely felt
that the Turkish state was damaging democracy, human rights and the
country. So I did things outside of my books.”
Modern landscapes
His most political novel, Kar (Snow, 2002) is a story about Ka’s
investigation into a mass suicide by girls who have been ordered not
to wear headscarves, a reminder of Ataturk’s ban of (on) headscarves.
Though Ka is killed, he regains his poetic creativity, which according
to Pamuk, is symbolic of human resistance and the need to share new
ideas with the world. As Margaret Atwood writes about this novel in
the New York Times Book Review: “The twists of fate, the plots that
double back on themselves, the trickiness, the mysteries that recede
as they’re approached, the bleak cities, the night prowling, the sense
of identity-loss, the protagonist in exile – these are vintage Pamuk,
but they’re also part of the modern literary landscape.”
Pamuk elucidates in A New Life a poetic rendition of his theory of
fiction: “The challenge of a historical novel is not to render a
perfect imitation of the past, but to relate history with something
new, enrich and change it with imagination and sensuousness of
personal experience.” Writing makes possible the vision of making
real a painless world. He has created literature out of despair
and neurosis. The past has to be remembered and any amount of
Westernisation cannot justify the forgetting of one’s history. “If
you try to repress memories, something always comes back,” reiterates
Pamuk. “I’m what comes back.”