Turkish writer flees for his life after Armenia outburst

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 14/04/05

One of Turkey's foremost modern writers Orhan Pamuk has been forced to flee the country after being engulfed in a storm of controversy over comments he made about Ottoman treatment of Armenians.

Green MEP Cem Özdemir, a friend of Pamuk's, this week confirmed that he had left the country after facing a number of threats on his life.

"He is currently outside the country," said the MEP, "he left some days ago."

Following a call for Turkey to face up to its past treatment of the Armenian minority, Pamuk was subjected to death threats and heavy criticism in the nationalist press.

"He could not go out into the street," said Özdemir.

Pamuk is the author of the best-sellers Snow and The Black Book, novels which deal with the interrelation of Turkey's seemingly contradictory Islamic, secular and liberal traditions.

Members of the right-wing ultra-nationalist National Action Party, the MHP, and its youth wing, known as the 'Grey Wolves' have openly called for Pamuk to be attacked. One regional official issued an order for his books to be burned, an action which has since prompted an government enquiry.

The controversy arose following an interview Pamuk gave to a Swiss journalist last month when he stated "a million Armenians were killed in Turkey".

Although the Armenian genocide is no longer taboo inside Turkey, despite Parliament holding what is thought to be its first ever debate on the subject last week, it remains highly controversial. Pamuk has also been a long-time critic of Ankara's military policy against the Kurds, another sensitive domestic issue.

The threats prompted fears that Pamuk could be in similar danger to Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz who was crippled by an Islamist assassination attempt in 1988.

Özdemir and two other Green MEPs, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Joost Lagendijk, have written to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ask him to intervene. "It is not okay that an internationally known writer has to fear for his life…it is simply not acceptable," said Özdemir.

Article reports that one of Turkey's foremost modern writers, Orhan Pamuk, was forced to flee the country after being engulfed in a storm of controversy over comments he made about Ottoman treatment of Armenians.